Continuance of the Bloodline
by Gangsta Spanksta
Summary: [Ranma x Gold Digger] Ch 2: The Nannichuan Gambit. Our two werecheetahs Ranma and Nodoka are walking home to Juuban. He wants to be with Akane. She wants to set him up with someone else. Perverted Butler, Ryoga tippytoeing, Skuld wants to mallet Ranma.
1. Boy Meets Mom

"Continuance of the Bloodline"

By: Gangsta Spanksta

A Ranma ½ and Gold Digger Crossover.

Chapter 1: Boy Meets Mom.

It was a quiet Sunday noon, with the only sound to be heard being the gentle flow of water coming from the canal in the background. The canal itself separated two distinct middle class neighborhoods and was surrounded with a chain fence on each side. A few seconds later, the tranquility of the scene was interrupted with the approaching sound of rhythmic clanging coming along one of the fences.

On top of the fence a figure dressed in a red Chinese shirt and blue silk pants could be seen approaching at a rapid pace. The figure was a young man, who was deep in thought. Despite this, he jogged along the fence with his eyes closed and a hand in each pocket. He was so caught up in his contemplations that he failed to notice his surroundings. Even so, he was able to move across the fence with great ease using pure instinct alone to guide him.

Eventually, the young man decided to slow down his pace. He slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light outside. As the scenery in front of him came into focus he stopped completely. He stood there for awhile before looking up into the sky.

"Funny I didn't notice before. I don't think I ever really sat down and thought about Mom," he said, figuring that perhaps talking to himself about it, would make him feel better.

The young man then lowered his head and proceeded to close his eyes again. He tried to calm himself by desperately searching for his center. He smiled and wore a happy look on his face, despite having feelings of pain and regret on the inside for not knowing the slightest detail about the woman he called Mom.

"Well I can't blame her for leaving, with a husband like pop," he jested.

Once more, opening his eyes he felt good about being able to put down his father. Amused with himself, he decided to continue his jog along the fence.

"She musta been a freak anyway to marry him.", he said cheerfully.

His thoughts were interrupted a few seconds later when he lost his balance on the fence. Without noticing it, he stepped on a section of fence with a warning sign on it. It simply read, "Warning. Fence is loose."

Even though he was in a state of temporary shock, he managed to jump into the air as the loose section fell and eventually splashed into the canal below. Using great dexterity, he managed to gently land on top of the following section, letting out a slight grunt as he touched down as a means of releasing his initial shock.

Calmed and focused again, he smirked as he became amused at the situation. Even more so, he became amused with pride in his abilities and the skillful nature that he could used them in. He slowly shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes as he felt his confidence rise through his body.

"Man that was a little too close to comfort", he quipped before reopening his eyes while basking in the natural high he felt coming from his confidence.

Having forgotten all about his problems, Ranma happily took another step forward, to only lose his balance once more. This time it was revealed that the section of fence was labeled with yet another warning sign. The sign read, "Warning. This one is loose too."

Not being as confident as before, Ranma started to wildly flail his arms about. When both he and the fence started to align diagonally to the ground, he verbally revealed his shock while still desperately flailing about as he tried to regain some sense of balance. His valiant efforts at such were justly rewarded a few seconds later with a loud splash as both he and the fence hit the stream below.

"Just what I needed," scowled an angry Ranma-chan, secretly cursing whichever kami it was that just loved messing with her life like that.

"Are you alright, miss?" Came a gentile voice from above.

Not seeing the kami she expected Ranma-chan said, "uh..." as she looked up and saw a very eloquent and beautiful lady kneeling down with a concerned look on her face. The lady wore a traditional blue kimono and held a long bundle tightly wrapped in cloth in one arm while holding an old medicine jar in the other. The redhead below looked up admiringly at the concerned lady above and saw that the lady had dark reddish brown hair which slightly covered her ears.

"Uh yeah thanks," said Ranma-chan as she continued to absorb the lady above.

"Here hold on to this," said the woman as Ranma rose to her feet.

The lady leaned forward still holding the jar in one arm, as she held out the bundle and lowered it with the other. Ranma hesitantly walked forward still being in a state of awe. She just stood there for awhile with her mouth gaping open.

"Come on, grab hold," the lady continued, being amused with the young girl's antics, which she found cute to boot but didn't reveal because it wouldn't be proper.

"Oh..." Said Ranma as she continued to look up at the lady, not knowing exactly why.

Ranma finally regained some sense of normalcy and shifted her view towards the bundle, as she started to walk forward again. She grabbed onto the bundle with both hands and happily replied, "okay got it." She then placed one leg on the concrete wall, ready to pull on the bundle to help herself walk up the steep incline.

"Oh..." Ranma let out being surprised at the smiling face that met her, as she looked up. She paused for a second to study the face before proceeding to pull herself up. As Ranma was halfway up the incline the kind lady lost her balance, having overestimated her own strength, and let out an "ah," in surprise. The lady tightly held onto her end of the bundle but Ranma's own tight grip on the bundle forced her to start moving forward. When she eventually stepped off the edge, both women let out their respective shrieks, and fell together in slow motion into the cold water below.

While falling, the lady's medicine jar that was carefully tucked away under her arm managed to slip out. As the jar rotated midair, its lid separated, resulting in the slow release of a black powdery substance that quickly spread itself into the air above. A few seconds later, two loud splashes came from the canal. The substance meanwhile, slowly continued to gently make its way down, falling at the speed of a feather.

Ranma quickly recovered from her daze. She noticed that one of the lady's sandals was floating downstream. Feeling responsible, she promptly fished it up. She then turned around to locate its owner, but in doing so accidentally inhaled some of the powder, forcing her to sneeze. She coughed a few times as she breathed in more of it. As she looked through the haze that now surrounded her, Ranma spotted the owner sitting a few inches behind her. She then lowered her head in shame, being embarrassed about the whole situation.

"Ah, Uh... sorry I feel terrible," Ranma said blushing as she handed the lady back her sandal while starting to stare again.

The lady sat there drenched and disappointed as she looked down at what was left of her jar. It seemed to be of great importance to her. She spent awhile watching bits of it make their way downstream. Finally, she decided that there was nothing more to be done about it and turned to face the girl.

The lady became worried as she noticed the substance still hovering around the young girl. She paused and thought about it for a short while, before finally deciding that there really wasn't anything to be worry about. Her mood lit up and she once more smiled at Ranma before started to speak.

"You're a little clumsy. Aren't you?"

Ranma sat there being surprised. The lady was amused by this and place a hand on top of the young girl's head. She then smiled at Ranma with her eyes closed. Ranma on the other hand sat there overcome with the feeling of being loved. It was something that she always desperately wanted but received little of. She looked wishfully at the lady as she imagined what it would be like to have a mother.

"I suppose that's okay for a tomboy like yourself though," continued the lady, as she happily imagined what it would be like to have a cute little tomboy like Ranma as a daughter.

After both women spent a moment enjoying each other's presence, the older one finally got up as she remembered that there was something important she wanted to do today. She looked down once more at the broken jar and let out a sigh. Ranma also got up and put her hands behind her back while she happily smiled at the lady in front of her.

"Well take care! I'll have to be going now," said the lady as she looking back and waved at Ranma.

'What a nice lady,' thought Ranma as she waved goodbye. She watched dreamy eyed as the lady walked off. She stood there wondering what it would be like to be loved like that by someone. She thought about how she would gladly give up martial arts, something that she truly loved, for the chance of being with her mother. For a split second, she thought about her not minding being born a girl, if it meant not having to leave her mother behind for some ten year training trip that was part of her father's dream and not her own.

"Aw heck! What the hell am I thinkin' about!" Exclaimed an upset Ranma-chan as she quickly slapped herself hard on the forehead. She felt betrayed at her current train of thoughts. She then went on to rant about how emotional she gets while in her female form, as she angrily stomped on off home.

Later at the Tendo residence, Ranma-chan slid open the door and declared, "hi, I'm home."

Upon hearing the news, Genma came bursting out of his room, huffing and puffing as he ran down the hallway. When he started to run down the stairs he tripped and stumbled all the way down. If it was a non-martial artist that would have attempted this feat, he would have ended up with a broken neck. Unfortunately, Genma was a martial artist of quite some skill and came out of it without even a bruise or scratch to show for it.

Ranma watched in horror as her father stumbled down the stairs, causing her to flinch in shock. It showed all over her face, as she quickly became concerned over him. The fall did look awfully painful after all and she still did love the old man, despite him being the dirty rotten scoundrel that he was.

Once she saw that he was alright, the concern didn't last long. She became ashamed of him as she she started thinking, 'what kind of martial artist would let themselves fall down tha stairs like that.' She felt her usual feelings of not wanting to be associated with him return. She was about to scowl at him in disgust and make a jibe about him needing more training, when she was rudely interrupted out of thought.

"Come on Ranma! We're leaving, right now!", yelled Genma.

Genma started to run wildly towards his daughter and grabbed her in the process. He tucked her tightly under his right arm, applying extra pressure to insure that she couldn't escape. He then proceeded to head out the door, as quickly as he could.

"Uh! Wait! Hang on pops! Where's the fire!" Screeched an irate Ranma-chan.

She really hated being manhandled like that by the old man. The whole situation reminded her of her initial arrival at the Tendo Dojo. She remembered being carried in against her will, just to be engaged to somebody she never met before. She wasn't even allowed the decency to change back into a guy in order to save her some embarrassment. He didn't care that she wanted to start out getting to know girls on her own by dating them first. She hated how she had struggled to free herself from the clutches of the panda with all her might but to no avail. For some reason, her father could always overpower her in her girl form and what she hated the most was the fact that he took advantage of it.

"No time to explain! Let's just go!" Fussed Genma, upset that Ranma didn't realize the magnitude of the situation.

Before Genma could reach the gates of the compound, Soun stepped into sight and onto his sandal, causing the fat man to lose his balance. He began to fall while still holding his daughter in his arm. Soun wasn't about to let Genma run off, with the centerpiece of his dream of one day uniting the two schools.

"At the very least don't you think your old friend deserves some kind of explanation as to why you are leaving so suddenly?" Soun said being disappointed at his closes friend while wondering why he would betray him like that.

During the time that Soun was asking his question, Genma was still falling. Before hitting the ground he made sure that Ranma was under him to lessen the blow to himself. Soun meanwhile finished his speech, not being at all concerned about the petite redhead now being crushed by her overweight father.

As Ranma was being crushed against the ground by her father, her chin was painfully pushed into the gravel. She lay there with her eyes closed waiting for her father to get up. While waiting, a postcard that had previously fallen out of his pocket, gently glided its way down towards her. It eventually landed on top of her nose causing her to stir and open her eyes. She grabbed the card wondering what it was and began to read it.

The postcard read, 'I hope this letter finds you well, I'm coming for a visit. Signed Nodoka.'

Back inside the Dojo the three Tendo daughters knelt down together at the table and read the letter out loud, while wondering what had gotten into Genma. Genma of course was tied up and begging his friend to see reason while Tendo stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for Genma to calm down. Ranma watched these events unfold with great interest from the patio.

"Tendo, I'm begging you, to untie me and let me go! Don't make me explain. Just let me go. Please Tendo. Oh!" Whined a bound and desperate Genma.

"Calm down Saotome, you're not making sense. Take your time and tell us what the problem is," said Soun in a relaxed manner.

Ranma-chan lifted up a kettle and poured hot water on herself. She grew a few inches but instead of his hair becoming black as usual, his hair turned blond and was covered with black spots. Furthermore, his ears took on a more catlike appearance. Ranma-kun bit down on his fangs as he continued to watch the scene in front of him.

"That's the whole point, there isn't any time. I just gotta get outta here before she arrives.", explained Genma hoping that Tendo would come to his senses.

"Nodoka? So it's a woman coming to see him," said Nabiki, with her curiosity now peaked as she wondered what possible reason any woman would have to see Genma for.

"So who is this Nodoka person?", wondered Akane, equally as curious.

"Who is she? That's non of your business! ... Now is it?" Refuted Genma.

He had a slight hope that somebody would agree with him and thus change the topic. He hated being the center of attention and he hated the fact that anybody would question him, let alone his friend. If he wanted to leave and take Ranma with him, then it was his god given right to do so. Didn't they know that he would eventually return when things were safe?

'Oh Tendo, what a fool you are,' thought Genma as he thought about his friend's lack of trust.

"Hey!" Ranma yelled with outrage as he kicked his father in the face and then pulled him up by the collar. "Didcha stiff a waitress, or rob a bank? I think it's time you told me what's going on," he continued as he assumed the worst of his father.

The others meanwhile stared at Ranma in surprise as they noticed his hair. They didn't say anything on the account of it being Ranma. They were sure that the explanation would soon present itself like it always did. Besides that, they didn't want any distractions since they were currently more interested in what Genma was hiding.

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Responded Genma as if he were innocent. He was too upset to notice anything different about his son.

"I know you pops, you've done something terrible and now you're trying to run away before you get caught," lectured Ranma as he shoved his father down to the ground.

"Oh... how dare you speak to your father that way..." grimaced Genma as tears of desperation escaped his eyes.

Nabiki's face lit up that instance as she thought up a reason why a woman would pay Genma a visit.

"I know! You borrowed some money off her and she's coming to collect," she said thinking about the only reason she would ever pay Genma a visit, while Yen signs happily danced around inside her head.

"Or maybe she saw you the night you robbed her house and she fell in love with you on first sight," joined in Kasumi, not taking the conversation too seriously but thinking that they were playing some sort of game.

"I bet she's the waitress you stiffed at a restaurant," said Akane, knowing how much the Saotome's loved to eat and what a cheapskate Genma was.

"No! You're all wrong!" Screamed Genma, truly annoyed at the accusations. It was bad enough to be accused of crimes that he was guilty of, but being accused about things that he was innocent of was just too much. He then proceeded to use his Ki enhanced strength to break loose of the ropes than bound him. "She's, she's...", he continued while pulling out a microphone from null space. "Nodoka is Ranma's ..." he froze mid sentence as he realized his mistake.

"She's my what? Out with it!" Yelled an angry Ranma-kun with his arms crossed as he stared his father down. He hated it when his father involved him in his crimes. Who knew how much he owed from bills that the old man ran up under his name. What was worst was the possibility that this Nodoka person was another fiancée his father had engaged him to, in order to con some mark out of something. He was going to have to teach the old fool a painful lesson, he thought as he purposefully uncrossed his arms and cracked his knuckles.

Any sort of explanation he was going to get was interrupted with the arrival of a woman. Upon hearing the woman announce herself, Genma panicked and fell to the floor. He had the look of fear showing on his face. He started to insanely claw at the ground as he pitifully tried to hide himself. The best the fat martial artist was able to come up with was to cover his head under a blanket.

"Forgive me mother, I've never tried to harm anyone," he let slip, as he shocked everybody in the process.

"Saotome did you just say mother?" Asked Soun as Genma hid his head.

"Answer me, what did you just say," said Ranma as he grabbed his father's head and pulled him out of hiding.

"He called her mother," said Nabiki rising to her feet.

"You mean she is your wife?" Asked Soun, surprised.

Soun got into a good mood. He was happy to at last meet the wife of his best friend. At last they all would be one big happily family, he thought as he went to greet her. As he came to the entrance, he was met with a short, stocky and somewhat ugly middle aged woman. This was exactly the kind of woman he'd imagine his friend ending up with. Happy to see her, he proceeded to greet her but was let down when she informed him that she was from the sushi delivery service, here to pick up some plates. Just so Soun wouldn't mistake that woman as his wife, Genma felt the need to drive home the point.

Ranma was intent on getting the information he wanted out of Genma. He walked up to him and slammed his elbow onto his head, letting the old man know that this was far from over.

"Alright, so the woman that wrote you this mysterious postcard is?" Ranma demanded, once more crossing his arms.

Genma sat there nervously as he profusely sweat, trying to figure out a way to weasel out of this mess. He knew that he had to come up with a lie quickly, since there wasn't almost any time left. He would have to somehow convince both Ranma and the Tendo's that Nodoka was someone else other than his wife. Once he got their guards down, he would grab Ranma and sneak off unnoticed. But before he could put his plan into action, the girls got excited as they themselves figured out the answer.

"The woman that's coming is..." said Kasumi, so happy for Ranma.

"That woman gotta be Ranma's mother," interrupted Nabiki as she betrayed her cold image and showed that she really did care about Ranma with her emotional outburst.

Genma felt defeated. All he could do was reluctantly give his conformation. Upon hearing it Ranma took a deep breath and froze. He felt a stinging sensation come from inside his chest. His eyes looked like they were watering up, as he became pale. He wasn't sure what to make of the news. He wasn't even sure if he believed it. So he did the logical thing that all martial artists do in such a situation and shut himself down.

"This woman is my mother," said Ranma awhile later as he stared intently at the postcard, his only link to the woman who gave him birth.

"Hmm ... lucky you, Ranma," said Akane feeling happy for her fiancé.

Ranma sat there watching the dragonflies, as he thought about his mother. Akane walked up to him and joined him with a big smile on her face. She was truly happy for him and felt that he was very lucky. She inquired if he was happy to finally be able to meet his mother. She knew that she was excited at meeting the mother of the man whom she secretly loved. Ranma wasn't sure what to think anymore, so he told her as much.

He didn't have the slightest detail about the woman to be able to form an opinion. He wondered why his mother let his father drag him off on that stupid training trip. He wondered if she knew the kind of abuse he had suffered at the hands of his father, all in the name of the art. Yet he wanted to be loved so badly by her. Would this woman love him? Would he be the disappointment to her that his father had often alluded to? He couldn't take rejection from this woman, one that he desperately wanted to love him. He sighed on the inside, not knowing what to do.

As Ranma sat there thinking about how he felt, another lady greeted the Tendo household and was answered by Kasumi. Akane sprang up in excitement thinking that this time, it had to be Ranma's mother. She ran down the hall giggling, not being able to wait another second. She called back after Ranma, telling him to hurry up and come join her as she ran off.

Ranma sat there in shock. The moment he had both looked forward to and dreaded had finally arrived. He didn't know what to do. He stared in the direction that Akane had run off to, wondering if he should follow. He then felt his father's presence behind him. Genma walked up to Ranma and knelt down. He put a hand down on Ranma's shoulder in a show of support. Ranma was surprised at his father sudden concern over him.

"Listen Ranma, I've been doing a lot of thinking and it must be hard having a father like me," Genma said with some regret surfacing in his voice.

Ranma felt touched by the regret in Genma's voice and by the support his father was offering him. For the first time since he was little, he felt close to his father. He wondered if his father was really sorry for what he had done, especially for separating him from his mother. He wondered if he knew the hole it had created inside of him. Was there a chance now that she was back in the picture that they could become a normal family? As he felt the bond between them grow, he started to feel willing to finally forgive the old fool for all the crimes that he committed against him.

"And it's gonna get a whole lot worst!" Continued Genma as he snatched up Ranma in a single swoop. He squeezed his son tightly into his arm as he started to run. Ranma was caught off guard and before he could react Genma jumped into the koi pond with a smirk on his face. Ranma felt the sudden tingling sensation of the change ripple through his body. He only felt it these days whenever he tried to fight the change.

"Whatcha go and do that for old man," hissed an angry girl, with red spotted hair as she grabbed a defenseless panda by the neck, ready to clobber him while showing him her fangs. She really didn't want to be reunited with her mother in her girl form. Her father just had to ruin everything in her life. This time however, she was going to teach him a lesson that he'd never forget.

The panda growfed out a logical explanation.

"I don't know whatcha blabbin' about but I don't appreciate the fact..." expressed a boiling Ranma-chan as she shook the panda back and forth, thinking about the beating she would administer if he didn't come up with a good explanation quickly.

The panda interrupted her by holding out a sign that said, "I guarantee you will be unhappy if you meet her," trying to calm down his illogical and illtempered daughter and make her see reason. The ungrateful child was really starting to get on his nerves. He would later have to train her some more, in order to knock some sense back into her, he vowed.

Meanwhile at the front door, the Tendo's gather to greet the mysterious woman, who they figured to be the Saotome matriarch.

"Hello... I was wondering if you could help me. I'm looking for a Genma Saotome and his son," said the eloquent woman wearing a blue kimono, who had dark reddish brown hair with black spots on it. The Tendo's knelt down in front of her to show their respects while being overcome by her beauty.

"Hey that's the lady from the river," said Ranma as she and the panda peeked from around the corner. She decided to stay out of sight for now until her father could explain exactly what he meant by unhappy.

The Tendo's all knelt down at the table with their guest. They stared at her with curiosity. In front of the lady was a hot cup of green tea. It went untouched. She smiled back at them being equally as curious about the family that her son had been living with. They were all brought out of their trance, when a koi jumped up in the pond. Nodoka smiled at the family in front of her as she was about to bring up the reason for her visit again.

"So as I was saying, I'm looking for a Genma and Ranma Saotome."

Soun coughed on his fist, while Nabiki had her eyes closed. She felt guilty that they were going to lie to this poor lady. 'Genma better have a good reason for this,' she thought as she imagined what it would be like to be kept from her own child. She secretly plotted her revenge against Genma in case he didn't. She wouldn't let anyone use her without just cause.

"Yes. However, unfortunately ... unfortunately the two of them..." Soun stated with regret as he thought about his friend asking him to lie earlier. He remembered how upset Ranma-chan looked as she stood behind her father watching in confusion as her father made the request. "Genma and Ranma are away on a journey to work on their martial arts," he finally finished, feeling like a real heel for lying to such a nice lady.

Nodoka gasped in disappointment and then lowered her head and said, "oh I see," as Akane watched her with sad eyes. Akane swore that she would mallet the panda later if this turned out to be another one of his dirty schemes.

"Enough's Enough pops, now just tell me what's going on here," said Ranma as she squatted down while trying to have a serious conversation with a panda.

"I'm telling you," said the panda with a sign.

"You haven't said anything. Tell me who that lady is, and no more dodging the issue," she said while growing impatient, knowing that her father could beat around the bush all day long, especially in his panda form.

The panda raised a paw into the air and stuck out a claw and then shook it as he mumbled away. He then flipped the sign and it read, "She is your mother." 'That's the last straw,' thought Ranma furiously as she rose to her feet and bopped her father hard upside the head, leaving a nasty bump.

"In your dreams maybe. Someone like her haveta be pretty hard up to even think of marryin' a loser like you," scolded Ranma, upset that her father couldn't even come up with a good lie this time.

The panda growfed in protest. He couldn't see why his daughter couldn't get the facts straight. His expression quickly changed to being hurt. He mumble something out as he felt both depressed and insulted by Ranma's comments. As far back as she could remember, Ranma had never seen her father with his feelings hurt. She stood there stunned, feeling guilty for hurting him. She stared at him for awhile with regret in her eyes before concluding that what he said must be true.

"Then that lady really is my mother?", she said in a low fragile tone.

She liked the person she had met earlier. She seemed so kind and loving that Ranma had secretly wished that she could be her mother. She wanted to be adopted by the lady, never imagining the possibility that she would be lucky enough to actually have a mother in the same league as the nice lady she had met at the canal. Now it seemed that her wish was coming true and judging by what she thought of the person she met, she felt that surely someone so nice and loving could accept her despite her curse.

To prove his point, the panda dug around in his fur searching for something. It turned out to be an old picture. He held it out for his daughter to see. Ranma looked at the picture, as the shadows of the leaves moved across it as the wind blew. The picture had a younger version of her father in it. He still had his hair and was standing next to a kneeling Nodoka. Nodoka face was filled with pride and joy as she proudly held onto a laughing chibi Ranma-kun.

"My Mom..." Said a teary eyed Ranma-chan as she held onto the picture. She never wanted to let go of it now that she had it. She felt anger that her father had never shown her this picture before. She felt anger that he didn't even mention that her mother was still alive until now. This lady was her mother and Ranma loved her unconditionally. At last she would be able to get to know her again.

Back inside the Tendo household Nodoka happily sipped from her cup of tea, enjoying the company of the nice family that her son was living with.

"So Misses Saotome, you were left all alone, while Ranma and his father were away on their journey to improve their martial arts?" Asked a sad Kasumi. She was being serious for once, because she was upset about all the things that this lady had to give up, for the sake of her family. It reminded her of her own situation and what she herself had to give up for her own family. She wanted to go to college so badly but instead ended up being nothing more than a housekeeper. Life wasn't being fair to either of them she thought, while feeling an instant bond form between the two of them.

"Yes I've been waiting for them," said Nodoka, disappointed that after ten years of suffering she still was alone, unable to see her only child, who was the pride and joy of her life.

"That must have been hard for you," said Soun, feeling ashamed about the extremes that he and his friend were willing to stoop to for the sake of the school.

"It was, but..." Nodoka paused feeling hurt.

"But what?" Asked a concerned Akane, feeling the lady's pain.

"Being separated from them was difficult of course, but it was nothing compared to the day that Ranma was taken away," continued a teary eyed Nodoka while feeling regret over her decision.

Nodoka thought about the scene that took place inside the Saotome home ten years ago. The room was a mess from the struggle currently taking place. Nodoka was on her knees begging with tears, while tightly hanging onto Genma's gray gi. Genma looked down at her with anger while holding their crying baby.

"Please don't go. Don't take my baby," pleaded Nodoka, hoping that her husband would change his mind.

"No stop it Nodoka. This is for us," he said firmly while wondering what had gotten into his wife, they had previously discussed this and come to an agreement.

"Don't take Ranma away from me," cried Nodoka with a sudden outburst of emotion, not caring what she had previously agreed to. She felt that she couldn't live without her child. He was the center of her universe, her reason for existence. How could the man she loved so dearly take away everything she had in this world? Why couldn't he just forget about the stupid agreement? Didn't he know how much this was going to hurt her? Didn't he know that this would destroy her? Did he even care?

"Enough! Let go!" Howled Genma angrily as he kicked his wife on the face, knocking her off him. She fell to the ground surprised at his actions. Her dream of her knight in shinning armor instantly shattered with a kick of betrayal. She lay there and slowly started to sob, feeling both broken hearted and unable to rescue her child from the clutches of the man she thought she knew.

"Please forgive me Nodoka", said Genma feeling ashamed of himself.

He couldn't believe that he had kicked his wife in the face. He knew that he wasn't a very honorable man, despite him knowing the difference between right and wrong. He was a con artist and a thief, who had perfected the Anything Goes style with moves specifically designed for stealing. These moves scared him though because they could be used equally as well for assassinations. That was the reason why he eventually decided to seal them away. He felt that he couldn't even trust himself with them.

He would try to make sure that his son would turnout being more honorable than himself. He knew that he would be a horrible roll model for his son to look up to, despite whatever he might tell the boy about honor. He prayed to Kami-sama that his son would turn out to be a better man than himself.

"Come along my son," he said to Ranma as he held the crying boy tightly.

Nodoka was desperate at this point and ready to do anything in order to reobtain her child. She grabbed her sandal from her foot and snuck up behind Genma. Without warning she repeatedly hit her husband over the head with the sandal, yelling out, "don't go." She then bashed a bucket over his head several times, once more yelling out, "don't go." Finally, she knocked him out using the dining table as she yelled her final, "don't go," out before picking up her child. Nodoka then towered over her husband as she held tightly onto her son. He looked up at her with defeated eyes, having been overpowered and bruised by his wife. His cracked glasses were barely hanging to his face, ready to fall off at any moment.

"Please Nodoka, Ranma must learn to be a true master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts," Genma pleaded as he felt his dream slowly being crushed under the cold feet of his wife.

"Yes dear, I understand that," she said, remembering that she had originally wanted Genma to take Ranma on the training trip. She felt guilty for having given in to her feelings. Ranma needed to be strong, after all. She did not however feel guilty for the beating she had given Genma, he had after all betrayed her love with that kick.

"Then understand this Nodoka that Ranma must be raised away from distractions, such as a mother's love. Please Nodoka let me take the boy. Do it for Ranma's benefit," said Genma, deciding to play the con artist and swindle the baby away from her. He was going to play on Nodoka sense of honor and duty.

"For Ranma's benefit? ... For Ranma!" Said Nodoka as she decided to play along, not being fooled by the bad con job. She figured it wouldn't hurt to have Genma think that he had won. This was after all what she wanted, despite having changed her mind earlier. She needed to be strong now, for Ranma's sake.

As Genma left carrying Ranma in his arms, Nodoka knew that she did what was right. It was important that Ranma grew up to be strong. She knew that Genma was an excellent martial artist who would pass along his skills to his son. She could train the boy herself, but she felt that she would only be putting him in harm's way. That's why the whole idea of a training trip was her idea to begin with. Genma seemed more than happy to accept it when she had originally mentioned it to him.

She suspected that Genma had ulterior motives for wanting to take Ranma on the training trip, now that her image of him was shattered. But she saw how proud he was of his son and the love he had for him in his eyes. She was sure that he would take good care of Ranma and protect him. In the long run, it would be safer for Ranma to leave with Genma than it would be for him to stay with her. If only the price for his safety wasn't her own happiness. She sighed and whispered to herself, "for Ranma's benefit."

Back in the present, Nodoka was kneeling at the table holding a handkerchief to her eye, after she had finished telling the cleaned up version of her tale to the Tendo's. She felt regret for her decision and was an emotional wreck because of it, but she knew she had done the right thing. The Tendo daughters all had tears in their eyes after listening to Nodoka's tale. Soun himself, for once showed some self control as he wanted to leave a good impression on his best friend's wife. He however wanted to burst into tears at the scene, but would save it for later when he was alone inside his room upstairs.

"I see so you gave Genma custody of Ranma," said Soun once he had his emotions in control.

"That musta been tough as Ranma's mother," said Nabiki as her maternal instincts took over. She felt depressed knowing what a bad decision that turned out to be, as her thoughts turned to Genma.

"I trusted my husband," said Nodoka, not giving the real reason why she let Ranma go on that training trip.

Ranma hid behind the bushes outside having heard the sad tale using her acute hearing. She wanted to comfort her mother and hated her pops at the moment for taking her and causing so much pain to her mother. She had only heard the cleaned up version of the story, so she didn't know that her mother actually wanted her to go on that training trip. Not even Genma knew the full story behind the events in the past. Ranma was about to get up and walk to her mother to show some support.

"Don't get any closer," said the panda behind her with a sign, not trusting his daughter in the slightest. She would ruin everything he thought, as he contemplated back handing her on the back of her head in order to knock her out. He would do what was best for the both of them, if need be. He prided himself on his parental skills, as he watched over his daughter with concerned eyes.

"Okay pops", said Ranma-chan causing the panda to flip his sign asking, "what?" She rose to her feet, causing the panda to grunt out in fright as he flipped his sign to say, "S ... Stop..." She then proceeded to pour hot water over herself, which shifting her back into her guy form.

"I have no idea what you are so afraid of here, but I'm not going to run and hide anymore, old man," yelled Ranma at his father causing the panda to gasp.

"Before my husband left on his journey, he made a promise to me," revealed Nodoka as she was about to tell the Tendos about the seppuku pledge that Genma made, that involved him and his son in case he failed to make Ranma a man amongst men.

She was quite surprised when Genma came up with the pledge and later signed the contract. He had insisted that Ranma sign the contract by way of hand print, which the five year old was more than willing to do. She had no intention of having her child commit seppuku. The contract served more as a purpose of making sure that her husband wouldn't do anything foolish. She decided that she would later use this same contract as a means of making sure that her son would act manly in accordance to the definition she provided.

She really hated doing this to the boy, but it was of great importance that went beyond his and her own happiness, just like the training trip. She felt despair thinking about what she was doing to her son. But in the long run she thought it was the best for the future happiness of himself and his family. It was a tough decision to be made, but one that she needed to make as a parent.

"He did?" Asked Soun as he thought about how easily Genma could break promises.

"What promise?" Asked Kasumi.

"What exactly did he promise? Tell us," said Soun also wanting to know.

"Well, he said..." stated Nodoka as she wiped another tear away from her eye. She was interrupted out of her tale as she heard a young man arguing with someone. 'huh? Who's that boy? Could it be Ranma?' She thought as she got up and headed towards the patio to look out. She saw a panda holding up a sign in one arm and a bucket in the other. Next to the panda lay the redheaded girl that she met earlier, unconscious and with her eyes open. The panda's sign read, "Hello someone else's wife."

As Ranma argued with his father, he decided he had enough. He turned his back on his father and walked back towards the house. The panda disappointed in his son for turning his back on an opponent, grabbed him from behind. He then lifted his son up on his shoulder and carried him back to the pond, body slamming the foolish boy into the water.

As his now daughter rose up out of the water, he grabbed the bucket that was kept by the pond and used it to hit her behind the head sending her flying unconsciously to the grass. All this was done with amazing speed and accuracy, and before his wife was able to walk up to the patio, he knelt down beside his daughter wielding the sign, and the bucket in case he needed to use it again.

"It's you again? The girl from the river," said Nodoka being surprised to see the girl who she had wished for as a daughter earlier. She then froze.

"I had enough of ya, stupid old man," growled Ranma as she slugged the panda upside the head, after coming out of unconsciousness. Ranma then gasped as she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Ra, Ra ... Ranma? But... But how? You're a girl!" Said Nodoka in shock, as everyone gasped in surprise, amazed that she was able to tell it was Ranma even though she was a girl at the time. The panda then proceeded to grab a beach ball out of a bush and play with it, so he wouldn't be noticed.

"Mo ... Mom? It's ah ... uh, a curse, I picked up on a training mission with pops. He uh... ah, took me to this accursed training ground," said a flustered Ranma, holding her head down while feeling ashamed of her current form.

Genma meanwhile was pissed that his daughter would put him on the spot like that. 'After all that I have done for that boy, and this is how he repays me, that no good, ungrateful son of mines,' he thought as he glared at Ranma, still holding the beach ball. 'Nodoka's gonna kill me!' He thought as he gulped, spotting the wrapped bundle laying inside the house.

"Oh Ranma!" Said Nodoka as she tightly hugged her daughter. "Don't worry dear, I'm not going to love you any less just because you're a girl, Ranma," she continued while in embrace.

It was true. She loved her child equally well, even though she was a girl now instead of the boy she had expected. She was however upset that her daughter had to suffer because of her husband's negligence. She couldn't imagine how hard it must be for Ranma to be stuck in the opposite gender from which she was born it. She was also disappointed because all her plans for Ranma were now ruined, with her being a girl. She would have to do her best to hide her disappointment from Ranma. It wasn't her fault after all.

"It's, ah... not as bad as it looks, Mom," said Ranma with a weak smile on her face. "The curse is reversible. Hot water changes me back into a guy, but cold water activates the curse again," said Ranma with disappointment in the last part. She was however happy, because as she had suspected, this woman that was her mother had accepted her, despite her being a girl. She felt that she was a good judge of character.

Nodoka was relieved. There was hope after all. If Ranma could change back into a guy like she said, then it may still be possible to carry out her plans. It wouldn't be as easy as before, now that Ranma had the curse, but the possibility for success was still out there. She felt herself cheer up as she squeezed Ranma tighter. This was good news indeed.

Later that day during supper, Ranma was sitting right next to her mother. She had unknowingly spent the day as a girl, as she followed her mother around everywhere. The thought of changing back into a guy, just never occurred to her as she was too busy being happy spending time with her mother. Nodoka didn't seem to mind either, she was too busy being happy to finally have her baby back after ten painful years of waiting.

"So Akane, they tell me that you're Ranma's Fiancée. Is that true?" Nodoka asked smiling at the girl after taking a bite to eat.

"Yes. But I..." said Akane nervously. She was happy to be interrupted by her family commenting on the food.

"So do you think that he's manly?" Asked Nodoka. She just couldn't help it. After all these years of planning to make him live up to what she defined as manly, she got somewhat corrupted by it and it became important to her for reasons other than what she originally intended. Ranma meanwhile looked nervously at Akane, not liking where this thread of questions was leading to.

"Uh huh," said Akane nervously after hesitating for a second. She didn't like being put on the spot like that about her feelings towards Ranma.

"Is he cool?" Nodoka asked, forgetting that Ranma was sitting right next to her.

"Uh huh," said Akane sweating, wishing she could be excused from the table.

"How about handsome?" She asked since she still hadn't had the opportunity to see her daughter's male form yet.

"Uh huh," she said after a short pause, hating to have to admit her feelings in front of Ranma.

"Think ya coulda stretched that pause any longer?" Whispered Ranma into her Fiancée ear, obviously upset with her.

She didn't think that Akane actually thought that she was attractive. Despite her having all these girls chasing after herself, Ranma had low self esteem whenever it came to Akane. She still felt hurt at being called a freak by her fiancée during her first night at the Dojo. Akane calling her a freak and a pervert whenever she was upset, didn't help how she felt around her fiancée either. It wouldn't be so bad, if they actually took the time to discuss these things in private with each other once.

"You know something? Ranma looks exactly like you?", said Kasumi.

"Really?" Asked Nabiki slowly. She then curiously looked up and saw Ranma and Nodoka sitting close together. Both of them froze in their respective positions upon hearing Kasumi's comment. They each held their chopsticks to their mouth while holding the exact same facial expression. Sure enough mother and daughter looked exactly alike, despite Nodoka having a formal hairstyle and Ranma having a wild uncombed mane. Nabiki smirked as she wondered how they would look together if Ranma had the same hairstyle as Nodoka.

Nabiki just couldn't pass this opportunity up, she thought they looked adorable together. Like all good photographers, she kept a camera nearby at all times. She quickly took a snapshot for herself. She decided that she would give them a copy later, that is after she developed the negative and charged them a small fee, minus the family discount of course.

"So Misses Saotome, how were you able to tell that Ranma was your son, when he was a girl at the time?" Asked Nabiki after interlocking her fingers and placing her hands slightly below her nose, as her thumbs rested on her chin.

"As you can see Nabiki, Ranma and I both have reddish hair that is covered with black spots," said Nodoka.

Ranma was surprised at what they had to say. She hadn't had the time to look at herself in the mirror yet. She sat there giving the conversation at the table her full attention as she listened intently to what her mother had to say. She wanted to know exactly what this was about, since it involved her.

"It is a trait that is unique to all females of my family. Since I know for certain that I am the only surviving member of my line besides Ranma, it was obvious that she was a direct descendant of mines. Given the girl's age, I was able to put two and two together," she continued.

"Ah, that makes sense and that would help explain why Ranma became a blond all of the sudden. I take it then, that that's a trait unique among the males of your family?" Question Nabiki as she tried to get all the facts. Nodoka was glad to hear this because it confirmed to her that Ranma was indeed able to change back into a guy.

"Buh Buh Blond?" Asked Ranma, after which Nabiki gave her a slight smirk as she watched Ranma grow upset. Ranma didn't like the Idea of becoming a blond. She had nothing against them, it was just that she enjoyed her black hair as a guy. The blond hair just didn't fit the pig tailed martial artist look that she was going for. Her red hair even if spotted, she didn't mind as a girl. She figured that if she had to be one, at least part of the time, she might as well be knockdown gorgeous. Nodoka meanwhile became concerned when she noticed her daughter becoming obviously upset over her hair.

"Aw man! That sucks!" Complained Ranma as she wondered once again why the kamis up there kept ruining her life. Now she would have to do something girly, like dyeing her hair. She wondered if her hair would still be black after changing into a girl and then back again. If not then the whole dyeing her hair thing would be pointless. 'Argh, this is just getting too damn complicated,' she thought and then became even more upset thinking that if Ryoga were here he would say that she was acting like a girl for worrying over her hair. She really hated that, because to her this was a good reason to be upset, not something girly at all.

"Stupid P-chan," she muttered under her breath.

Nodoka coughed on her fist twice, to quite down the chatter.

"Well not exactly Nabiki. While blond spotted hair is a trait amongst all males in my family, it is not a trait exclusive to my family alone," continued Nodoka.

"Okay that explains a lot," smiled Nabiki, "but I'm still kind of curious about why Ranma's hair only changed right before your arrival, Misses Saotome?" She asked while being glad that she always carried a small recording device around. She wasn't sure if she wanted to sell this information or not. She wouldn't if it put either of them at risk. She just was obsessed with keeping accurate records for herself.

"Well that is because of the accident Ranma and me had earlier at the canal. When Ranma was born I locked away his family heritage, so that he wouldn't have to suffer abuse and prejudice at the hands of others. I came over here today to offer Ranma the choice of accepting his heritage or living his life as he had before. But when I met him today in his girl form, the medicine jar with his choice in it, accidentally got knocked out of my hands. Ranma then inhaled its contents thus unlocking his heritage. Unfortunately Ranma doesn't have a choice anymore, the effects of the powder are irreversible, " said Nodoka sadly.

"So you and Ranma aren't exactly human?" Asked Nabiki shocked. She hadn't expected this but looking back at things like Ranma's quick healing ability it all made sense now.

"No. Not fully... Let's keep this simple for now. The complete effects of our heritage don't fully surface until puberty. Before puberty, we appear to be for the most part fully human just like everybody else. After the child goes through puberty though, its hair changes along with slight changes in the ears and eyes," Nodoka revealed as she uncovered her ear from under her hair to show that it was more catlike than the normal human ear.

"Besides these physical changes that you see before you, Ranma will also inherit some special abilities. If Ranma hadn't inhaled the substance that I was carrying he could have spent the rest of his life being mostly human. At the time of the accident, I didn't think much of it because the substance has no effects on normal human beings," stated Nodoka.

She didn't want to tell them too much yet. It was too dangerous of a topic. She had some trust in the Tendos, based on what Mr. Tendo and his eldest daughter had told her. They had kept Ranma's curse a secret for as long as the possibly could. But the fact remained that the secret did eventually get out. Granted this new secret was much easier to hide, it was also something that was far more dangerous if people found out about it. She would go through any lengths in order to keep her child safe, but it would be best to avoid such situations all together.

She eventually would have to tell them the truth if Ranma became part of their family. If Akane was to marry Ranma than she had the right to know what Ranma was and how it would effect her before deciding if she wanted to continue the engagement. She hoped not. Akane marrying her daughter went against her own plans. Plans she kept secret from her daughter for now but would later reveal to her. She was going to let Ranma make her own decision on it, similar to the one she once had to make. She would not deny her daughter the same opportunity that she had taken. But right now was not the time to reveal the whole truth to anyone. The situation was far too delicate for the time being and she wanted to first play all her cards right.

Both Ranma and Genma were surprised at what Nodoka had revealed. Ranma liked the idea of inheriting some new abilities. She wanted to be the best there was and inheriting something genetically from her mother wasn't cheating in her book. She never complained about any of her opponents abilities be it natural or supernatural. Ranma thought about Pantyhose Taro and smiled. She had been able to defeat him without the use of her new abilities, but she looked forward to fighting him again on much more even grounds. Just as she was getting to feel good about herself she thought about the downsides to her newly gained abilities. 'Oh great! Now I'm ah bigger freak than before,' Ranma-chan sighed internally.

Genma never knew that Nodoka wasn't fully human. Sure she had unusual hair that was spotted but that really wasn't so strange in his book. Genma was a chaos magnet long before the birth of his only son. He had seen many things in his lifetime. People with an array of different hairstyles was one of them. The Chinese amazon for example had different hair and eye colors compared to most people. He didn't think that that meant that they were an entirely different species because of it. Although now with Nodoka's revelations, he couldn't be so sure anymore.

Whether Ranma was Human or not, he too liked the possibility that it meant that Ranma would be more powerful now. That is if what his wife said was true. He never knew her to lie. She foolishly was far too honorable for that in his opinion. The thing that worried him the most though, was that it probably meant that Nodoka was more powerful than she appeared to be. That meant that she was more likely to be able to kill him for failing on his pledge to her. It was only a slight comfort to him that she seemed to have accepted Ranma despite her curse, since it didn't mean that he was off the hook yet.

Before anything more could be said, a loud banging sound came from the wall. Ranma and Nodoka both turned their heads to face the wall. They each had a similar expression of surprise on their face, when the wall exploded a few seconds later. After the dust settled an image of a purple haired amazon appeared in front of the now gaping hole in the wall. She stood there proudly holding her bonboris while looking around for Ranma.

"Aiya, Ranma go on data with Shampoo now?" She asked before spotting her target. She looked around the room and saw that Ranma-chan was sitting next to a gorgeous woman. Normally this would be cause for concern, but when she saw that both of them had the same expression on their faces and also had similar features, the huntress deduced that the woman was Ranma's mother. She didn't always jump to conclusions like some women, she thought while shifting her view to the kitchen destroyer.

"Aiya, warrior woman Ranma's mother. Shampoo so so happy, airen found mother," she squealed with her bubbly voice surfacing. One would hardly suspect that this girl was a natural born killer watching her current display of perkiness. Xian Pu smiled as she scanned the lady's aura. Ranma's mother was indeed a warrior of great skill. Xian Pu was pleased to have finally learned how to read auras, a few weeks ago. She learned it despite having little time to train these days. Kho Lon was such a slave driver. Xian Pu was even more pleased that her husband was finally reunited with her mother. She hoped that this woman would be a good influence on Ranma, because Ranma was a little rough around the edges from being raised by such a dishonorable panda-man.

Xian Pu couldn't wait to tell her great grandmother the great news. Surely, Ranma's warrior mother would comprehend the logic behind their ways. The logic that had so far eluded the simple male mind, due to its inability to handle the complexity of the amazon ways. 'Complicated for men anyway,' thought Xian Pu as she sighed while looking at Ranma with concern, not understanding how they couldn't even understand simple logic like that.

She felt bad for Ranma, despite being blessed with the ability to turn into a beautiful woman, her mind was still clouded, set in its male ways. Her Great Grandmother had told her that it was due to 'son-in-law' stubbornly holding on to her bad male thinking habits. For some reason, Ranma saw her blessing more as a curse. She just refused to accept her Jusenkyo blessing that the gods had bestowed upon her. Xian Pu preferred Ranma as a male due to her sexual preference, but she just wished that airen could sometimes think more like a woman. She smiled, there was still hope for Ranma though, all it would take was a little amazon training in the proper environment.

Nyannichuan to the amazons, was the one sacred spring of Jusenkyo surrounded by hundreds of cursed springs. It was the spring the gods created to decided if a lowly male was worthy enough to ascend into the heights of womanhood. One honored by the gods in this way had the ability to become an amazon warrior and gain full citizenship into the tribe. The spring was so sacred that it was blasphemy for a male to purposefully bless himself with Nyannichuan without the expressed permission of the council of elders. The punishment for such a heinous act wasn't just death, but any one of many long and painful deaths that took a minimum span of three months to complete.

"No need panda now?" She continued as she looked with deadly eyes towards the panda eating bamboo out of his bowl on the ground.

The panda quickly held out a sign that his wife couldn't see saying, "Hush, and I'll make it worth your while."

Xian Pu ignored the foolish panda's antics. Being an Amazon she would naturally side with Ranma's mother on any given situation and not some stupid deceitful panda-man. She gave one last glare towards the panda before walking up to Ranma, showing her her affections by giving her a big amazon glomp. Ranma started to sweat profusely while Akane began to boil under her skin, as she tried to keep her composure at the table.

"Ranma would you be a dear and introduce me to your beautiful young friend?" Asked Nodoka smiling with pride that her son was able to turn out to be so manly, despite having her curse.

"Uh, ah, eh well she's sorta one of my fiancées," muttered Ranma, as her eyes slowly shifted nervously towards Akane. 'Any moment now,' she thought as fear crept up her spine. After taking in a long breath Ranma continued, "Unlike the others that pops engaged me to, this one sorta is partially my own fault," Ranma said while lowering her head in shame. Unlike the other male members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew, Ranma didn't blame the problems he created on others. She distinctly remembered eating the prize with as much gusto as her father when they wandered into the village. It was not a case of her father eating the prize alone while she watched the fight and then was nastily surprised.

"Shampoo no fiancée. Shampoo amazon wife," Xian Pu said, trying to give her now female husband a helpful hand at explaining things to her mother. Ranma sure was lucky to have such a helpful wife, she thought as she looked down lovingly at the redhead she was glomping. Ranma on the other hand was sheepishly looking at Akane. The girl was grounding her teeth and snapped a pair of innocent looking chopsticks in half, sending pieces flying everywhere. 'Not good,' thought Ranma as she felt the sudden urge to bite her nails.

"Ranma what does she mean by wife and how is it partially your responsibility? Also, what do you mean by other fiancées that your father has engaged you to? How many are there? By the way, where is your father at anyway?" Nodoka asked her series of questions, wondering if her husband had carried out her plans of making Ranma manly. She didn't remember having discussed such a thing with him, but who knew, after all it was ten years ago.

A Few months ago, she would have been pleased to hear that Genma had engaged her daughter to a multitude of fiancées. Now however it was a problem, because her plans had changed. She really couldn't get mad at her husband for doing something that she had wanted him to do once upon a time. Genma meanwhile was trying to sneak off in order to save his life. He was stopped in his tracks by a glare from Nabiki that promised murder if he tried.

"Uh well... Ya see Shampoo being my fiancée is partially my fault..." she paused, entangling her fingers into her hair, "cause I accidentally defeated her in combat, kinda while trying to protect Akane. You see she was tryin' to kill Akane cause she figured out that 'Kane was hiding my girl side," she said with some regret for endangering someone innocent in one of her messes.

"Their stupid amazon laws, that go entirely against my own beliefs, say that an amazon hasta marry the guy that defeats her in battle. And all I did was accidentally knock her out while trying to shield that stupid tomboy. Lucky me, huh?" She asked angrily and as sarcastically as possible. She then glared at her father.

"And as for how many people that stupid old man engaged me to... I have no idea. There are at least twelve of 'em that I know about, but I figure another one of 'em is bound to show up and cause some trouble sooner or later," she then got an evil grin on her face, "Oh by the way as for pops... He's that big stupid ugly lookin' panda over there, ya know the one that's playin' with the tire. Sorry about that old man, but I can't lie to mom ya know," she said with a smirk, relieved to finally get all that off her big chest.

"Humph, husband just being stubborn," complained Shampoo.

"Shampoo, you should know there's moreta life than livin' in some remote and primitive amazon village," Ranma said honestly, feeling a bit more courageous now that his mother was around.

"How could you boy?" Asked the panda with his sign, as he shook his panda fist in the air while mumbling obscenities.

"Shampoo make panda rug now? Yes?" Asked Xian Pu, trying to make the situation more favorable, as she pulled out a pair of sabers from null space. She was hoping to leave a good impression on her mother-in-law. Nodoka was indeed impressed. She marveled at the uniqueness and quality of the craftsmanship of the blades. Nodoka thought that the girl before her would indeed make a good daughter-in-law, if that was what Ranma ultimately wanted.

"Oh that won't be necessary my dear, I have my own. But I appreciate the thought," said Nodoka cheerfully as she started to unwrap her bundle. She then proceeded to unsheathe the katana, letting it 'accidentally' slip out of her hand and sending it flying towards the unsuspecting panda, to only have it embed itself in the wooden floor right in front of him. Seeing this, Xian Pu let out a loud 'Aiya' as she was overcome with joy. She thought that her new mother-in-law was so cool. Genma on the other hand turned white with fear, making him look more like a polar bear than a panda. He held out a sign saying, "See what you did now, boy? She's crazy you know," when Nodoka turned to smile at Xian Pu.

Nodoka turned back to her husband and smiled, after the sign was gone.

"Oh don't worry husband dearest, I'm not going to kill you right now. In fact, I find it quite considerate of yourself, to have engaged my dear Ranma to all those Fiancées. Funny I don't recall discussing this matter with you though. But, none of that is important right now. However, I do wish to discuss with you other things that I've heard about, when we have some time alone, later. Like say Jusenkyo for instance, darling," she said as she walked up to her katana and pulled it out of the floor. Before she finished speaking, she lifted the blade up, letting the light reflect off of its smooth surface, before resheathing it.

"Now Kasumi, would you be a dear and get me some hot water. It has been so long since I've been able to see my son and husband in their uncursed forms," she continued.

"Yes Misses Saotome," said Kasumi, happy that everyone was getting along so well. It was also nice to have someone give her a helping hand in the kitchen for once. After Kasumi returned Genma and Ranma reverted back to their original forms.

Nodoka was acting civil towards Genma. But Nabiki noted that she didn't have much to say to him. Xian Pu was joyful that Ranma was all man again. She decided to express her happiness by showing her husband just how much she loved him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gently places a kiss on his cheek. At that point Ranma knew he was doomed for sure. He could feel the battle aura growing around Akane. He didn't know of anyone else who could generate such intense anger. He gulped. Xian Pu seeing that her husband was distressed decided to make him feel better about his impending doom by giving him yet another loving glomp.

Ranma knew that he was going to get hit by a Chi powered mallet, no matter what he did now. He thought for a second and thought about how he really hated having someone force their affections upon him. He was going to free himself from the clutches of the amazon, no matter what the consequences. He was fed up and was going to use the only move known to work against the amazon special attack, the legendary antiglomp.

'Well here goes everything,' he thought, as he closed his eyes and calmed himself into a soul of ice. Then he skillfully placed each of his palms on top of Xian Pu's luscious breasts. He then opened up his eyes, looking his opponent straight into the eyes and then proceeded to grasp, getting a firm grip in the process to prevent any struggle. He then pushed her off of himself and watched her hit the floor hard, landing on her butt, but not before she gave out a loud 'Aiya' in the process.

It was truly a move that Happosai would be proud of. Unfortunately for the old lech, it was also a move that he would never be able to use in battle. Judging from the expression on Xian Pu's face she admired the skill in which Ranma was able to perform his counter move with.

"Ranma no baka!" Screamed Akane, as she revealed her dark side. With rage she grabbed behind herself and pulled out a huge titanium mallet from mallet space. While Ranma was able to figure out a counter move against the amazon glomp, he had never been able to figure out a counter move for the divine mallet of 'righteous' anger attack that all women possessed. Too bad for Ranma that righteousness was in the eye of the beholder. As he contemplated the events that lead up to his life till this point, Ranma said a quick prayer to Kami-sama.

He knew all too well what would happen next. Akane lifted up her mallet as expected and then swung it towards his head. He was hit smack in the center of his left cheek, sending him flying once again in the direction of the koi pond. A groggy Ranma-chan emerged from the koi pond a few seconds later, with a big nasty purple bump on her left cheek and her left eye swollen shut.

"Whatcha go and do that for, stupid tomboy," she spat out at Akane. She knew the answer, but she was getting tired of the constant abuse that she suffered at the hands of her own fiancée. She was really pissed off, as she wondered if Akane really liked hurting her like that. If it wasn't for her supernatural healing abilities, she was sure that she would have been dead by now.

"Why you no good, two timing, cheating pervert, you... you are worst than Happosai. I don't even know why I put up with you. How dare you cheat with Shampoo right in front of me and in my own house to boot? Ranma! You... You bastard. I don't ever want to see you again, you sex changing freak. Why don'tcha go splash yourself with some water and play with yourself. Idiot, as far as I'm concerned, the engagement is off," yelled Akane, loud enough so that all the neighbors could hear. She then ran up to her room mumbling things like, "stupid pervert," over and over again along the way.

"Way to go sis. Impress the mother why don'tcha," said Nabiki sadly under her breath.

"Shampoo be going now, forget still have ramen to deliver. Wo ai ni, airen," said Xian Pu, not seeing anything wrong with the situation, it was just like she said, she had some ramen to deliver. Xian Pu exited the house through another wall and then jumped over the fence and landed perfectly on top of her bicycle. Airen should feel lucky that she used her break times to visit him, she thought as she pedaled off to work.

"Look, you ungrateful boy! You go up there this instance and apologize to your fiancée," yelled Genma as he got up, ready to beat his daughter within an inch of her life if she didn't comply.

"No Ranma! You will do no such thing. I will not have my son spoken to in such a manner," said Nodoka as she drew out her katana, warning Genma not to try anything stupid.

"But No-chan ..." pleaded Genma.

"Don't you No-chan me. You lost that privileged a long time ago," responded Nodoka coldly. Ranma saw her father hurt for the second time that day. She wasn't feeling much better herself.

"Thank you Mister Tendo, I appreciate your hospitality and all you have done for Ranma. Unfortunately, my son and I have to be leaving now. I will not have your daughter speaking to him again until she is ready to apologize. Goodnight Mister Tendo," said Nodoka respectfully before she turned to Ranma. Soun just collapsed on the floor and burst into tears.

"Ranma get your belongings and say your goodbyes. We're leaving," said Nodoka to her daughter.

"But Mom..." pleaded Ranma.

"No buts Ranma, I'm your mother," scolded Nodoka.

Ranma hung her head in defeat. She didn't want to leave, she loved Akane and knew that Akane didn't really mean what she had said. The Tendo's were her family and she cared for them all. But she couldn't force herself to go against her mother's wishers. She would do what her mother wanted for now, but would later try to fix things, she vowed.

Ranma didn't have many possessions. She owned a few articles of clothing and that was it. All her allowance was spent on the occasional ice cream, paying off Nabiki and replacing her Chinese clothing that got ruined during fights. She ran up to her room to grab a few pieces of clothing. She then ran back down the hall and then paused at Akane's door. She wanted to talk to her so badly and apologize for everything she did that night, but couldn't. She was unable to say anything because she still felt hurt. After a short while of trying, she finally gave up and decided to run back down the stairs instead and try to apologize again tomorrow.

She stopped by the table and stuck her finger into the still hot cup of green tea. He was glad to be a guy again and wondered briefly why he had spent so much of the day in his girl form. He shrugged it off and walked over to Soun and placed a hand on top of his shoulder, carefully avoiding the streams of tears.

"Don't worry Mister Tendo, I try to work things out somehow. I'll Hope to be seein' you soon," said Ranma.

"Why thank you Ranma. You've always been a good lad," said Soun as he stopped his crying. He had always liked the boy, even though he felt that Ranma tended to avoid responsibilities.

Ranma ran towards the exit and was greeted by Nabiki and Kasumi. He smiled lovingly at them and they returned the favor. He looked over to Nabiki and could have sworn that she had wiped something off her face. He looked down at his shoes for a second, before looking back up and engulfing both of them in a big hug.

"I don't know if I'll get to see you two again. I'll try my best to, but just in case I don't, I haveta tell ya both that I love you and think of you two as my sisters. You're the first real family that I've ever had. Tell 'Kane I'm sure we'll figure out a way to work things out. I know she didn't mean what she said. Well see ya Kasumi and see ya Nabs. Hope this is only temporary," he said as he let a rare tear escape his eyes.

"Oh Ranma," they both said, with Nabiki feeling a bit awkward for letting her image down.

"Come back soon Ranma-chan, we'll miss you," said Kasumi causing a slight wince from Ranma. He shook it off.

"Yeah what she says, and don't think that just because you're moving that I'm gonna let you off the hook with those bills," smirked Nabiki as she gave him a wink. With that said, Ranma-kun turned around and ran to his mother who was waiting for him by the front gates of the compound.

"Well I'm ready to go Mom," Ranma said as he smiled at his mother.

"I'm glad to here that son," Nodoka gleamed with joy as she put a hand on his shoulder. Then together they walked along the Tendo compound, outside its walls. Before they left the outskirts of the property, Genma emerged from the shadows.

"Don't worry Nodoka, I'm not here to give you any trouble. I know I haven't been the best father or husband. Please forgive me, the both of you. But the reason I came, was to say goodbye to you Ranma and wish you luck. Despite what I have said, you make me proud. I hope you and Akane find a way to work things out and that you'll come back here to live. But I'm a realist and in case things don't turn out so rosy, there is something I want you to have. Back at the Saotome home, there are a few scrolls that I've written. They contain the secrets to the Saotome school's most powerful techniques. That is my legacy to you Ranma. The secrets of the scrolls are too dangerous in the wrong hands, so you must promise to only use them if the cause is just. I hope you're more worthy of the techniques than your old man. Well goodbye Ranma," said Genma knowing that this might be the last time he'd get to see his son.

"I promise pops and I hope to be seeing you and the Tendo's soon. Heck all that tomboy got to do is apologize right?" said Ranma as he smiled at his father. It wouldn't hurt the tomboy to have to apologize for once, he thought. Genma smiled back and then faded into the shadows.

Ranma and Nodoka walked off into the night leaving Nerima and heading in the direction of Juuban.

-(The End?)-

Author's Notes: I don't really like author's notes. :) So don't expect many in the future. I really just wanted to say that I'm not really a writer. Although, I think I do a pretty okay job for a fan fiction author, if I do say so myself. ;) However the point is that it is just a hobby that I like doing some of the time. So, don't expect frequent updates. I have some other stories that I want to write but I promise to hold them off until Chapter 2 is finished. Other than that I'd like to say wow, I can't believe how big this chapter has gotten. I was planning on staying between 15 to 30 k per chapter. So far, I'm happy with the results though. Hope you are too. :) l8rz and CYA. - Gangsta

.G.

V1.0

.-EOF-.


	2. The Nannichuan Gambit

"Continuance of the Bloodline"

By: Gangsta Spanksta

A Ranma ½ and Gold Digger Crossover.

Chapter 2: The Nannichuan Gambit.

The cold wind blew across his face, freezing his now more sensitive ears in the process, as he bleakly walked on top of the stone fence, and next to the desolate street. Despite it being night he could see everything clearly, but was too busy sulking to notice the change. His head was throbbing and he was rubbing his hands together in a vain effort to keep them warm. His now more sensitive skin was really starting to irritate him, and so therefore, he let out a breath full of frustration, watching it soar in front of him, as he silently kept to himself.

He was thinking about the events leading up to his current predicament and cursed himself for his part in them. In a way, he was glad that Mother Nature had chosen him to torment tonight. He felt that he deserved it. So, filled with masochistic desires he wished for more punishment to be inflicted upon him. As if to answer his desires, the wind promptly picked up its tempo and changed course.

"Oh, Akane ... I'm sorry," he whispered sadly in a low voice filled with desperation that was muffled out by the shrilling of the wind. On his next step he could hear her replying, 'Ranma you idiot,' in his head, which almost caused him to laugh out loud, but even thinking about doing so made him feel bad, considering the graveness of the situation.

Nodoka's ear twitched, before she slowly turned her head and sadly looked up at her son. She frowned and clenched her free hand tightly, as she saw him walking on top of the fence, blatantly suffering in despair. He was struggling against the wind, using the unpleasantness of it blowing through his silk clothing, as a means of distracting himself from thinking about the young Tendo girl.

Her poor son was suffering because of that girl. Somebody that he obviously cared a great deal for, she thought as she squeezed her fingernails forcefully into her flesh, breaking skin in the process. She abhorred herself for making her son suffer like that. She sighed, letting a tear escape her lonely eyes and before anybody could notice, she wiped it away using her free hand, as her face became stern as steel.

She had no time for this childish nonsense. She had to be calm and strong now, for the both of them. She refocused her current perception of her son, filtering out his current grief, which in turn caused her grief, and instead looked upon him as her sole source of strength in the world, the one reason for waking up in the morning, the only thing that kept her going.

Having the strength once more that she needed, her thoughts once again turned to the young Tendo girl. The truth of the matter was that she had liked the girl initially, and would have welcomed her with open arms, a few months ago. She really didn't get a bad first impression of the lass. Akane seemed nice enough, and despite her formality, Nodoka was a lot more understanding than she appeared to be. She knew that the girl probably didn't mean what she had said, and that she had more than likely acted out of anger.

While true, that most people would have felt aghast by the girl's violent tendencies, Nodoka had to admit to herself that such behavior wasn't all that uncommon among the somewhat less civilized members of her own kind. There were always those of her kind, who liked it rough, so to speak, and that was true even among the royals and nobles of the kind. She sighed. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing, what her son's own personal preferences on such things would be.

She was a bit worried about the boy of course. The poor child had been reared by Genma after all, and that alone was cause for concern, even if it had been done so out of the best of intentions. Hopefully though, the boy would rise above his so called guardian, and despite his father's horrendous influence over him, would acquire a hint of class and decency, with perhaps a touch of sophistication thrown in there. She desperately prayed that the boy wouldn't turn out to be just another lowly brute like his father, especially considering the premise that the young girl's ailment of a disposition wasn't entirely incurable.

Naturally, all it would take to rid the girl of her unladylike blemishes would be some good old fashion counseling, coupled together with perhaps a few exceptionally strong wards, and voilà, an instant fiancée that would bring her pride and joy, as she bragged to her friends about how manly her son was, over a delightful cup of hot tea. She continued to ponder the thought blissfully, as thoughts of carrying out such an exorcism began to exhilarate her, sending a sharp quiver of excitement coursing through her body, which caused her to instantly perk up and smile, while having an odd twinkle in her eyes, as she lovingly held onto her bundle of joy. After all, she thought, it wasn't everyday when one could dust of their old cat o'nine tails for use, she mused as her thoughts quickly changed to remembering how she had neglected some of the antiques of her estate as of late, causing her face to shift back to a more worried tone.

The neat thing about it all, she thought as she cheered herself back up, was that being of blue-blooded descent, had given her the fortunate opportunity of being trained in the various of methods that insured that the progenies of the line would act proper and in accordance to their sociopolitical rank in the grand scheme of the hierarchy of social standings. Surely, such techniques handed down to her by her ancestors to guarantee that an instinct ridden child would turn out to be proper and civilized, could come in handy in this given situation of taming a shrew, or even a wild gorilla at that.

But whether she liked the girl or not was inconsequential, because the real problem lay in the fact that Nodoka had already someone else in mind, when it came to the mating of her child. It didn't matter how good a person Akane was, nor did it matter if her son was fond of her. It didn't even matter how much fun she could have delousing the girl of her crude behavioral habits, because in the long run, the only thing that really mattered was the future wellbeing of her child, and that of his potential family. He was after all, the only child that she would ever have, she thought as she lovingly gazed up at him, her eyes filled with pride.

The girl's temper tantrum that night had been a godsend in disguise. It gave Nodoka the excuse she needed, to take Ranma and leave. There was no need to try to weasel out of the situation, by coming up with a good excuse or lengthy explanation. The child had made things all but too convenient for her, and Nodoka was thankful at that.

'Oh Kami-sama, bless her little heart,' she thought gratefully, as she felt relieved about how easy things were turning out to be, for a change. It was high time too, she thought happily, as she reflected on the various hardships that she had to endure throughout the years, for the sake of insuring the welfare of her child.

Nodoka knew that under normal circumstances, she still would have been outraged, and fuming over the indignation caused by the unjustified emotional display and extremely harsh words directed at her child. The difference was that if she didn't have her own hand to play in this matter, she would have acted a bit more levelheaded. In other words, Nodoka would have waited patiently and calmly for the young Tendo to calm down and give in, before the girl reluctantly and sheepishly came back downstairs to properly apologize to her son. Instead, she just took the boy and left, leaving a befuddled crowd in her wake to bumble about aimlessly, without giving them the benefit of uttering out a single word in her presence.

She wasn't proud of what she had done, considering her own secret agenda in this mess. Feeling angst begin to overwhelm her, she let out a deep breath, relieving herself of some pent-up emotions, before rationalizing her guilt away, with the thought of what had to be done, had to be done, as she took another step forward. It was quite simply put, as there were no two ways about, and on that note, she was able to overcome any remnant of negative emotion, as she realized that her internal bickering with herself over spilt milk wasn't solving anything.

So instead, she continued to walk silently alongside her son, constantly looking up at him sadly, knowing that she wasn't going to do anything to alleviate his pain, which stemmed from the current predicament involving his love. She figured that if he wanted to be with the girl then fine, but ultimately the burden of such a decision would rest upon his own shoulders, and he would have to bear the consequences that came with it. She would just provide him with an alternative solution to choose from, dressing it up nicely to make it more enticing to him, thus shifting the scales in her favor.

She would just have to explain to him why the right decision wasn't always the one that seemed obvious at first. There were greater things in life than himself to consider. Ultimately, she had faith in her son. She may have just met him, but in the little time that she did get to know him, she could tell that he had a good heart on the inside.

She did however; wish that there was something that she could do, to make him feel better about the infernal cold that was currently hounding him. She continued to study him, watching him intently, as he swiftly blew into his hands, between aggressively rubbing them together, desperately trying to find some means of keeping them warm. As she had unfortunately predicated earlier, he was failing miserably at the task at hand, and she knew exactly the reason why. It would take some time, before the poor lad adjusted to his now more sensitive epidermis. His mind would eventually learn how to instinctively ignore any excess sensory information, that wasn't either needed or desired.

As she watched him suffer, she was tempted to tell him about his hybrid form, but had already concluded that doing so would be unwise. Sure, she knew it would keep him warm and cozy during this awfully cold night. But, it would more than likely just end up freaking the poor lad out, making him feel as if he were some sort of freak himself. From what she had gathered from the others, he already had enough problems just dealing with the awkwardness created by his curse. She didn't want to add another burden to his soul, so based on that she concluded that revealing to him, at this point that he was a lycanthrope, wasn't a good idea.

'Oh silly me, there is a proper place and time for everything. I will just have to time everything out perfectly,' she contemplated, as she decided that now would be an excellent time to get to know her son better.

"Ranma dearest, why don't you come down here and walk next to your mother, for awhile. I really don't see why you are walking on top of that fence for, in the first place. Hasn't your father taught you that it is very ungentlemanly to do so while in the presence of a lady? I do hope, he has taught you some things about manners. Whatever the case, Ranma, I think you should come down here immediately, and act like the gentleman you should be," Nodoka scolded lightly, while being a bit unnerved at the fact that her son hadn't said single word to her all night since they had left the Dojo.

"But mom ... pops said that I should ah, turn everythin' into training, and this uhm fence walkin' has done wonders for my balancin' abilities," complained Ranma, thinking that he was a martial artist and not some dumb sissified gentleman, who raised his pinkie whenever drinking from a cup of tea. He started to visualize images of that French freak Picolette Chardin II, and shuddered when he realized just how far he had been willing to go in the name of his absurd sense of honor.

Not wanting to gross himself out any further, Ranma refocused his mind back on the topic, as he thought about how useful his balancing abilities had been in the past. He specifically remembered the time that he had used them against that baka Kuno. A small smile crept up on his face, as he thought about how he in his girl form had jumped up on the jerk's wooden sword and speedily walked across it, to only give the egomaniac a swift kick to the face. Right before she elegantly did a spectacular back flip, after which she readjusted herself midair, letting out a few kicks of pure frustration, before gently touching ground.

He looked back on the whole thing and smiled to himself, as he remembered just how satisfying it had been as a girl, looking down at the jerk's fallen form, before kicking the buffoon's sword up into the air, sending it spinning a few times, before catching it with her swift hand. The memory made him realize that he did have some great times in Nerima, causing him to chuckle to himself internally as he remembered some of the zany chaos that took place in the past. Cheerful now, he continued to walk on top of the fence, his hands now resting behind his head, having totally forgotten all about his mother's annoying complaints from earlier, as he looked up at the star filled sky, happily reminiscing to himself.

Nodoka sighed.

"Very well son, you may continue then," she said, as she winced at his poor use of grammar.

She decided to let the matter drop instead of nagging her son about it, because in her mind her son's martial arts abilities took precedence over manners. Besides that, she felt partially responsible for his lack of social graces. She wasn't there for him when he needed her, she felt. She quickly comforted herself with the thought that it really didn't matter. He had after all, turned out to be a pretty nice person, despite his father. In the long run that was all that really mattered. On the bright side, she still could help him smooth out those rough edges, and keep him from becoming a total social misfit, she thought as she found a new reason to cheer up.

'Great!' She smiled. 'Yet another excuse to spend more time with my baby,' she thought, gleaming with amusement, while staring at her son with great anticipation. All of the sudden, Ranma felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, leaving him confused and wondering why, as someone carefully and very calculatingly, planned out his future inside her head, as she happily watched him walk on.

"So Ranma, why don't you tell me a little bit about Akane?" Asked Nodoka as she was glad to get a conversation going between the two of them.

"... Mom, I ... I ... uh love her," he said nervously, nearly losing his balance on top of the fence, an event stemming from the sudden fear which quickly overwhelmed him.

Despite his demeanor, Ranma was no fool. He actually was a pretty sharp person, who didn't like showing off his intelligence outside of combat. The lack of good grammar and wisdom, simply came from the lack of a proper education, something Genma wasn't too concerned about, as they went from town to town, learning all they could about martial arts.

So, he knew the significance of Akane's emotional outburst that night, in front of his mother, as she watched in shock, at the verbal tongue lashing that Akane gave him. He wasn't about to take any chances now, and pretend that he didn't like the tomboy, in effect making things worst than they already were. He had no choice, but to be totally honest and open with his mother. Especially, considering, that he wanted her to accept Akane and get to know her the way he did. He wanted them to get along and like each other, and didn't want to be forced to choose between them, causing him to lose his mother, the person who he had so desperately longed for all these years, and only just met.

The stupid tomboy had without thinking, effectively ended their engagement with her tactless words, which she spouted out, in a fit of rage. While someone from his generation or the two fathers wouldn't have taken her declaration seriously, somebody as formal and traditional as his mother might. He couldn't afford to hide his feeling now. Not when he needed to sway her to his line of thinking. He needed to set aside his pride and be careful and shrewdabout what he told her.

Besides that, he wouldn't mind having someone for once with whom he could be honest with about his feelings. He never had the opportunity to do so before, because everyone appeared to have their own conflicting agendas and would gladly use the information solely to further their own gains. Here was somebody that he totally trusted for once. Somebody who had proven herself to be worthy in his eyes when she had accepted him despite his curse. She was somebody who he perceived, wasn't trying to hide anything from him. Somebody he believed wouldn't use the information against him. He felt a spasmodic bolt of happiness burst through him, as he though about how great his mother was.

"Ranma, is she your first love?" Nodoka asked sagely.

"uhm ... yeah mom," Ranma responded timidly.

"Ranma, do you know that most people don't end up with their first loves? I'm not telling you this to be mean, but it is something you should consider. Just because you love this girl doesn't necessarily mean that she is the right one for you either, Ranma. It doesn't mean that you won't find and love someone else someday. Ranma, I'm not trying to take Akane away from you, I'm telling you this because I'm your mother and I care. So, let me ask you this. Have you dated many other girls before becoming engaged to your fiancée? You know to make sure that she is the right one for you?" She asked.

She was hoping for the opportunity to present itself, where she would persuade him into going out on a date with another girl, one of her choosing, all under the pretense of making sure that he wasn't rushing into anything. She would just have to be calm and patient now, as she played Socrates, carefully guiding him to the answer she wanted, by responding with the right questions.

"Okay mom, Look ... I'll admit that I don't have much experience when it comes tah girls. Heck, I don't have much experience when it comes to friends either. The thing is; my whole life has basically been one big gigantic training trip. Pops had his dream and he made sure that I lived it too, whether I liked it or not. Ya know tha whole time, before I came to the Tendo's I've only ever had time to make two friends? Hell one of 'em ain't even my friend and instead tries tah kill me all tha time. I guess; It's just more wishful thinkin' on my part. I have a great need to be liked by someone, ya know," Ranma admitted with his head bent down low as he felt a chill of uneasiness run through his body, as he told his mother things that he tried to desperately hide from himself.

"Ranma ..." Nodoka tried to say something, but she was too shocked to, not having realized just how lonely her son's life had been. She quickly saddened, being able to relate to her son's loneliness, having grown to knowing it all too well on her own.

"You know ... I didn't always love that stupid tomboy. Heck, when pops had told me about him engagin' me to some girl I ain't even ever met before, he had tah literally drag me in there. Okay, so he carried me in there, in my girl form, but that's totally besides tha point here. The thing is I didn't want to be engaged to no one and 'Kane felt pretty much tha same way," he continued to reminisce.

"Heh ... you know when I arrived there, old man Tendo and Nabiki came runnin' out, all excited and happy to greet me. I guess the poor girl musta been as lonely as I usedta be, 'cause that's the only time I've ever seen her bother to dress up in a kimono. Anyway, they were soon disappointed after pops plopped me down on the ground and they discovered that I was ah girl and not the guy they were expectin'. I was all but too happy to let them keep thinking that, 'cause I was plannin' on knocking the old panda out and splittin' anyway," he continued to recall the events, fondly.

"Oh sure pops was gonna be mad," he smiled at the thought of pissing the old man off, "but he wasn't gonna be half as mad as I was at tha time. Shoots, I felt like murderin' the old fool. Imagine that, going out there and picking my fiancée like that without even askin' me. You know, I hate it when people think they can just run my life like that," his tone changed to a more serious one, "That's why I don't respect pops, tha old ghoul, or even Mister Tendo," he continued.

"But back to what I'm tryin' to tell ya, Mom. While I was feeling rejected and being picked on by Nabiki, Akane stepped in and defended me, making me feel welcomed. It really surprised me when she uh ... well asked me if I wanted tah be friends. Those words really meant a lot to me. You know how happy it made me, to finally have a friend again?" He asked while starting to get a bit emotional.

"Well it didn't last," he said looking glum, "... when the stupid tomboy walked in on me while I was in the furo, she soon found out that I was not that cute lil' redhead she thought I was. To make things worst, when my curse was revealed to her family, her sisters uh ... sorta forced me on her. Well ... she said she wasn't gonna marry no sex changing freak like me and called me a pervert to boot. Her words and rejection that night hurt me more than anything else she has ever done to me. In a way I lost the friendship I so desperately wanted that night," he said feeling dismal.

"But you know in a way I sorta can understand it. I don't think most girls woulda acted any differently when put on the spot like that, being forced into something that they didn't want. It's pretty easy for people to judge from tha outside when they ain't ever been through the same thing. And then, I think girls are a lot more accepting about those kinda things than guys. I don't think I coulda handled being engaged to ah girl that is cursed to change into ah guy, Mom," Ranma said, shuddering while feeling ashamed of his obvious shortcoming.

"Anyway, after that first night, I wanted nothin' more to do with that uncute tomboy. But the thing is Mom that we did grow closer and started to care for each other, and eventually learned tah love each other even if we didn't admit it. And the reason for that is, we really can't, 'cause besides tha both of us being kinda shy, the moment we do, even admit we like each other, pops and Mister Tendo start ah plannin' a wedding, and neither of us is ready for that, yet."

"Look mom, I'll admit I ain't ever even been on a date before. I didn't wanna be forced into this stupid engagement and neither did she. We might not be tha perfect couple, but if there is one thing I know, I do love her Mom. Despite what ya may have seen tonight, she does have her cute side hidden underneath that uncute tomboy exterior of hers. She's really a good person underneath it all, and I know for ah fact that she does ... uh love me. She even risked her own life for me before... and she shouldn't have, really. Just tah keep me from bein' unhappy, after that dirty old freak sapped my strength away, with that damned moxibustion of his. Mom; look I gladly give my own life tah save her. I'll do it any day of tha week, and have done so in the past. We're both willin' to die for each other, and the plain simple truth is that I ain't willing to give her up quite frankly for anything," he said passionately, intent on ending any argument before it started.

Nodoka didn't like what she was hearing. She would have to drop her current attempt of hooking Ranma up with the girl she wanted, by getting him to agree to date someone else, in the guise of making sure that Akane was the right girl for him, and think of something else. She was sure she would come up with something later. But, right now there was another urgent matter that she wished to discuss with him, involving his relationship with Akane.

"Ranma, now you know ... what she did to you tonight ... wasn't right? She had no right hitting you like that, leaving you all bruised and bloody, with a swollen eye. If it wasn't for our family's natural healing abilities, you could have been seriously injured. Nobody has the right to hit you like that ... and I want you to know that that's not an act of love either. Your fiancée has a serious problem and quite frankly I think she needs some help. You letting her beat on you like this, only makes matters worst. You're encouraging her, Ranma, teaching her that what she's doing is alright, when it is not. Whether you love her or not, what happened tonight must end now. I will not allow you, to allow yourself to be abused and battered like that. You need to start being a man, Ranma, and I mean right now. Make sure that your fiancée gets the counseling that she needs. You need to start standing up for yourself. You're not being fair to either yourself or your fiancée, if you let this continue," said Nodoka concerned over her son's willingness to be abuse, and the nerve of everyone else who were apparently willing to let it continue.

"Okay mom ... I guess that's fair. I'd be lying to myself, if I didn't admit that Akane didn't have both an anger problem and jealousy one," he said sadly, "She really is ... a sweat person underneath it all, like I told ya. It's just whenever one of the other girls triesta force herself on me; she gets kinda jealous and thinks that I'm cheating on her. Then as she just stands there watchin', her rage builds up and before I know it, wham she hits me. I guess she ... she doesn't trust me very much, 'specially with the other girls, even though I'd never cheat on her in my life. It's just that I was kinda hoping, once I found a way to get rid of Kodachi, Shampoo and Ryoga, and get Ucchan to finally understand that I don't see her as nothing more than ah sister, that things would kinda work themselves out between us. But I guess I never come up with anything that sticks and there's a lot of things me and 'Kane really gotta talk about and work out before we get married. But you gotta understand ... that I love her so much that I'm willing to try, Mom. And, I'll do anything you want, if you promise not tah call off tha engagement between us, Mom. I love you mom, but I also love her, please don't make me choose between ya," he said.

"Oh Ranma dear, don't be silly. Of course, I promise not to call of your engagement, but really dear, I wasn't going to do so, anyway. Ranma, you need to realize that you're a man now, and as such, who you'll choose to marry is your choice, and your choice alone. That doesn't mean that I'll automatically approve of your choice dear. I am your mother after all, and as such, I'm sure to let you know what I think, to make sure you make the right decision. I only want what is best for you. I don't want you choosing someone because your father told you so or your mother did. I want you to be able to choose on your own, but also, I want you to choose wisely dear and consider all the facts, before making the decision. I think you should really remember that for later on, son," she said while smiling up at him.

"Fair enough Mom," smiled Ranma, "Mom ... you know what? ... I love ya Mom," he said with delight as he thought about how he could never have such a fair conversation with his father.

"Oh, I love you too Ranma," said Nodoka, thrilled to hear something she hadn't heard for over ten years.

Their moment of happiness was interrupted by a rumbling sound in the background.

"Oh, that's funny, I don't remember there being any rain in the forecast. I'm sure I checked it before I left," said Nodoka startled, scratching her head in apparent confusion. She wouldn't have went on foot if she had known it would rain. "Oh well, I suppose there isn't anything we can do about it now," she finished.

"Oh, that just figures..." Ranma said, as he looked up hatefully towards the sky. He knew that one day he was going to find that damn kami, who plagued his very existence, and let him know a thing or two, right after giving him a good pounding of course, he swore as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation of that day. 'You'll just wait and watch, you dirty rotten kami. Just wait and watch, I'm gonna getcha one day,' he telepathically threatened the offending kami.

Hours later, after having walked halfway across Tokyo, Ranma and Nodoka finally arrived at the outskirts of the Juuban district, located in the Minato Ward. They had crossed four other wards, as they mostly walked but also occasionally roof hopped, on their trek across Tokyo. Ranma was quite pleased to learn that her mother could roof hop, as Nodoka led the way across Suginami, Nakano, Shinjuku, and Shibuya before finally reaching Minato.

The rain had stopped an hour ago and it was now early Morning. Drenched, Ranma-chan was still an emotional wreck from the events that occurred the previous night. Her now wet clothing were clinging tightly onto her now more sensitive skin, as she walked tiredly and sloping on top of a fence. She was just glad that there weren't any perverted boys around to gawk at her shapely figure as her clothes clung tightly.

"Ranma dear, stop slouching, dear," chided Nodoka, having totally forgotten that Ranma was really her son at the moment, as she thought about how her daughter's current posture, wasn't one befitting a young lady. She made a mental note, to have a good long talk with her daughter, later on, about the proper etiquette of being a young lady.

"Yes Mom," said Ranma-chan, as she straightened herself up. She then started crackling her neck from left to right, before stretched her arms out in front of her, intertwining her fingers, and then rotating her hands so the back of them faced her, finally stretching her arms out even further. She yawned and undid her hands, before relocking them once more behind her head, looking up this time at a cloudy sky and muttering something that was inaudible.

"Ranma, don't you think that it's kind of dangerous walking on top of a slippery wet metal fence like that? What if you slip and break your neck? Maybe you should come down here and walk next to your mother, dear," observed a concerned Nodoka, as she raised an eyebrow and noticed something that had eluded her all night.

"Yes Mom," replied the redhead tiredly, as she halfheartedly flipped off the fence, yawning while she was upside down in the air, "Hey Mom, we almost there yet?" She asked as she touched the ground in a gentile motion, bored and tired, hoping to find a comfy futon to rest upon.

"Yes Dear," said Nodoka, as she admired the beauty of her daughter's graceful movements. One thing was for sure, Genma had trained her well. She felt like clapping her hands at the performance the young girl had just given, but couldn't, having to carry her bundle.

"Aw that's good," Ranma said while making squelchy sounds with her mouth, as a bit of drool showed up on the side of her lips, which she then proceeded to lick away.

"So uh Mom, what's your neighborhood like anyway?" Asked Ranma, while practicing walking with her eyes closed, using her other senses to guide her, as she carefully stepped over the jagged shards of a broken bottle, with her Kung Fu slippers. Her head would nod down every once in awhile as she temporarily lost consciousness and quickly awoke again in a split second, causing her to open her eyes, having them refocus on her surroundings, before she rubbed them closed, as she walked on.

"I'm afraid, the neighborhood has gone downhill as of late," complained Nodoka with a frown, "There are these indecent young girls running about in very small skirts during broad daylight, jumping from building to building while giving everybody in sight pantie shots," she looked disgusted, "Why just the other day, poor Misses Horibuchi was walking home with her six year old daughter Noriko-chan, when those shameless girls jumped over them, leaving the poor frustrated mother to explain things to her young impressionable child. Why I am of good mind to follow them home one day and have a good long talking with their mothers," Nodoka swore, knowing full well that there was no way for those young hussies to outrun her if she decided to follow them home. Not that they would get the notion to, especially if she followed them home unnoticed, using her catlike stealth.

Ranma meanwhile was sweating nervously, listening to her mother complaining, as she remembered some of her own shenanigans in Nerima, like the time she was roof hopping wearing this short snug red little number. It was a disguise of course and she was wearing boxer at the time, but somehow she didn't think that her mother would approve of her actions. She figured it would be best not to try to explain the complicated life that she lived in Nerima to her mother. After all, what mother didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Well we're finally here, Ranma," said Nodoka cheerfully, as she looked at the Saotome home with great pride. It wasn't much she figured, but at least she did her best to keep it in good shape and kept it clean. She was especially proud of her garden, which she cared for whenever she had the spare time to do so. She looked at her daughter standing next to her side, hoping that she would approve of her modest dwelling.

The two Saotomes, stood in front of a golden gate, that had their family name written on it, with big jewel encrusted kanji characters. Beyond the gates, was the Saotome estate, which was build on their former family home and the surrounding neighborhood. Ranma could see a huge white mansion behind an equally luxurious water fountain filled pond, which itself was surrounded by a circular driveway. To one side of the mansion he could see tennis courts and a golf course, while an immense garden filled with tropical birds stood on the other side. In front of the mansion and parked on the driveway was a sleek stretched limousine. Ranma-chan could only sweat drop looking at it, as she stood there soaking wet, with the sniffles, tired from a long night's walk.

"Uh Mom ... why'd we haveta walk all the way down here, if ya had a limo, all along?" asked Ranma-chan, leaning on the gate, yawning and about to pass out as the upper half of her body slowly started to slide down the metal bars she was holding, eventually leaving her butt sticking up out in the air, as her knees buckled and gave way.

"Why? I like to walk of course, silly. Exercise is healthy you know and I hardly ever ask dear Marcel to drive me anywhere anymore," said Nodoka without a concern in the world, "besides tonight was supposed to be a pleasant night, according to the forecast. I wonder what went wrong there anyway." She questioned as she rubbed her finger on her chin.

"But it uh ... Uhm took us all night to get here, Mom," complained Ranma. She knew there was another reason to be upset. She just couldn't place her finger on it at the moment. 'Think, damn it, think,' she told herself as she tapped her fingertips sequentially on her forehead.

"To be totally honest, Ranma, I do have to tell you that you did slow me down quite a bit tonight. I'm sorry but, I do hope you're not all worn out already, after our little walk. I mean, I would expect you to be in better shape than that, especially after that little training trip of your father's, you went on," Nodoka replied full of amusement, while somehow managing to look formal despite being drenched from head to toe.

"Uh say what? ... Uhm never mind," said Ranma surprised at her mother's comment about slowing her down, "and no I'm not worn out, it's just that..." she yawned while twirling her hair and having droopy eyes, "that I'm tired, that's all ... So mom, I guess ya rich, huh?" She asked knowing that the answer was painfully obvious, but she figured it did bear mentioning because it would eventually lead to the explanation that she was seeking.

"Why yes Ranma, I suppose I am at that," she smiled, "about three or so years ago, after you and your father had left on your training trip, I took a trip of my own to gather up a few old family heirlooms. I used the proceeds later, to invest in a few major corporations. Thanks to wise investing, I am now one of the majority stockholders of one of Japan's premier incorporations. Then again I suppose it takes money to make money, but I'm very proud at what I've accomplished," she said proudly.

"I used the money that I've earned throughout the years to buy out the entire surrounding neighborhood and eventually build this estate that you see before you. I didn't want to move and then not have your father be able to find me when he returned from his trip. That's why I obviously build the estate here, instead of moving, Ranma. I even very tastelessly had our family name written on the gate and the entire street renamed to make sure that your father knew that this was our home upon his return," she explained.

"I'm sorry Ranma that I've never wrote your father about any of this. I mean during one of the few times he did leave me with an actual return address to write to. But it was just at the time, I didn't want him to prematurely end your training trip, on the account of me having a little money," she admitted.

"In hindsight, I now regret that I felt that way. I had absolutely no idea, that he would train you in such an godawful manner, endangering your life just for the sake of the art. I believed that because your father did so love and admired you and used to look up at you so proudly, when he held you up as a baby, that he wouldn't ever do anything so foolish. I had no idea that he'd eventually go into hiding because of your curse, Ranma. I'm sorry, because in a way, I know all this is partially my fault too. I feel responsible and know that I have failed you as a mother," Nodoka said shamefully, as she signaled the gate to open with a remote that she was carrying.

"Mom, don't feel that way. I don't wantcha feelin' bad on my account. Ya had no way of knowing that pops was gonna be an idiot like that and do tha things that he did. It's okay Mom, it ain't your fault. But uh well ... who's that Marcel guy ya were talkin' about earlier, anyway?" She asked, not really caring who the guy was, but trying to change the topic so her mother wouldn't feel as bad, as both women began to walk onto the grounds of the estate.

"Oh, he's the butler," explained Nodoka, as a drop of water dripped from her hair, "basically, he is in charge of all the servants and maids inside the mansion," she continued, as they walked up the driveway.

"Hey mom, if ya ah corporate tycoon like ya said, then how come Nabiki ain't ever heard of ya? After all, she reads them financial thingamajigs, all tha time," wondered the daughter.

"That's easy to explain, Ranma. I'm more of what you call a behind-the-scenes player. I choose not to be on any board of directors or a CEO, because I do not want to attract attention to myself. That doesn't mean that I don't really run things. Having the majority stock holdings in a company means that I can vote out whoever doesn't agree with me and replace them with a friendlier board," Nodoka answered.

"I still wish ya hadn't made us walk all the way over here, Mom," the girl stated, trying to figure out exactly why that was. She then scratched her head and looked around a few times, looking somewhat bewildered. The answer was somewhere in the back of her mind, somewhere just within grasp of her fingertips, if she just continued to try to figure out what exactly it was, she knew that she would eventually get it.

"Oh shit!" Exclaimed Ranma-chan, as her eyes popped wide open.

"Ranma!" Fussed Nodoka, giving her daughter a disappointed glare, while at the same time being horrified at the kind of language she was using in her presence.

"Oh no! What I'm gonna do? What I'm gonna do? Argh ..." Ranma-chan screeched out rapidly, after the two had stopped in front of the stairs that lead up to the mansion. She then grabbed two fistfuls of red hair and started running around in an irregular but somewhat circular pattern.

"Ranma! There is no time for this kind of behavior," said an impatient mother, not at all amused with her daughter.

She briefly considered sending her daughter off to finishing school as she tapped her wrapped katana on her free hand, waiting for the young girl to calm down and behave, as she heard her mutter away, "oh my god, oh my god." There was this nice place in Switzerland, after all, where Rika-san had sent her overly rebellious daughter to. It had done wonders for the girl too, who turned out to be such a splendid and polite young thing. Nodoka's eyes started to sparkle as she thought about the wonders this place could do for her own daughter.

"But Mom I just remembered that I gotta be at school in a few hours," exclaimed an excited Ranma-chan, waking her mother out of her brief moment of eccentricity, "and now I gotta go all the way back to the Tendo's and pick up my books cause I forgot em there. And to top that off, I haven't even gotten any sleep yet," hyperventilated Ranma. She then started to calm down a bit when the realization hit that there was plenty of time to sleep, which was what school was for after all. Still there was tardiness to consider.

She really hated standing in the hallway holding a pair of hazardous buckets. It made sleeping that much harder a task to accomplish. 'Hard but not impossible,' she mused, while trying to figure out a way of sleeping standing up without spilling any water on herself to avoid changing into a girl. Then there was also that palm tree nut job to consider, but Ranma wasn't too worried about him, not when she was thoroughly trained in the mighty art of Sleep Fu.

"Oh, in that case, there is no need to worry. I just simply do not require you to attend school today. In fact, I would rather you'd accompany me on a small trip to meet some very special people. There is a particular certain someone that I would like you to meet. But, don't worry, unlike your father, I won't force you into anything that you don't want. So what do you say? Just to humor your old mother?" Asked Nodoka as mother and daughter reached the top of the stairway and were now standing at the front door of the mansion.

"Sure Mom, anything to get outta school," smiled Ranma before yawning. Even if her mother was trying to set her up with some girl, the situation wasn't all that bad. Like her mother had said she could just humor her. The great thing about her mother was that she had made it clear that she wanted Ranma to make her own decisions in life. It was all part of being a man, as she had put it. Ranma knew that she loved that silly tomboy and knew that she would never cheat on her either. So, being sure of herself she had agreed to her mother's terms.

Nodoka decided to let Ranma's little comment about school slide for now. She was just happy that her plan was going off without a hitch. Ranma was being very cooperative, so she could be willing to let some things go in return.

"Thank you dear. You make your mother very happy. Now we won't be leaving for another two hours. So I say why don't you go on upstairs and get a little rest before we do leave. Once we are on our way, you can use the rest of the trip to catch up on some sleep, before we arrive at our destination," she said confident, as her plans seemed more plausible to succeed than they did a few days ago. Soon enough there would be the patter of little grandchildren waddling about, she thought gleefully, as the butler opened the door and greeted them.

Ranma looked at the butler suspiciously. 'What is it with these guys?' She thought, as she wondered if he had hung around the door all this time since her mother left, waiting for their arrival, because they hadn't even managed to ring the doorbell yet, before he had opened the door to greet them with that big stupid smile of his. 'Man this guy needsta getta life,' she thought, as she gave him the quick look over. Did people choose these guys based upon their total lack of lives? Ranma wondered, as her thoughts quickly turned to Kuno's manservant Sasuke. That was convincing enough. 'Yup ah real loser, alright,' she concluded in a brief instance, subconsciously shaking her head in great disapproval. She certainly hopped that this loser wouldn't follow her around like some dumb puppy dog, the way Sasuke did with Kuno.

"Welcome home Madame Nodoka. I take it that you had no luck in finding the young master," the butler looked glum, as if the world had ended and Nodoka was the bearer of grave news, "but if I may be as bold as to ask, who's is this beautiful young mademoiselle that has accompanied Madame home tonight?" Asked Marcel as his mood quickly brightened up, totally forgetting about the young master's presumed death, as he figured, the young master was probably run over by a heard of wild water buffalo while in India or someplace. It really didn't matter, because all was right with the world. Before Ranma was able to speak up, the butler formally bowed down at her, startling the young girl into speechlessness, before taking her hand gently into his, looking at its delicate form appreciatively, and finally finishing off the task at hand by giving it a very long, wet and passionate kiss.

"What the hell do ya think you're doing?" Growled an upset Ranma-chan over the blatant audacity of the perverted butler, as she swiftly punched him dead in the face, sending him flying back into the house at high speeds, where he abruptly smashed into a wall, filled with mounted heads and paintings from the renaissance. Peacefully resting on the wall, minding their own business while looking proud, stood two suits of armor, who were wielding glaive and shield. The butler's unannounced impact disturbed the armors, rudely shaking them about, causing them to respond unkindly to the miscreant, by releasing their polearms, sending the blades slicing through the air directly towards the helpless soul. Upon seeing his impending doom, Marcel desperately scrambled about on his back, looking up at the ceiling, as he barely avoided a close shave to his goatee, at the last possible fraction of a second.

"And who'dcha callin' ah mademoiselle," yell the angry redhead as she rolled up her sleeves and formed an intensive crimson battle aura. She slowly started stepping forward, ready to finish the job on the pervert who had just molested her innocent hand with the most Frenchy of kisses. She rubbed the back of her hand dry, at a supersonic speed, cringing midrub as it occurred to her where the dampness on her hand came from. She then set her sights on her target, intent on murder, planning to make his head join those others on the wall.

Nodoka meanwhile was split over what to do next. On one hand, her daughter was just defending her manliness. On the other hand, her butler was just being manly. This was all too damn confusing. Why couldn't life just be fair and simple, like it should be? She had originally hired Marcel, based on the qualification that he was manly, an obvious trait required in a respectable butler, something that kept the maids happy and smiling, and a happy maid was one that was willing to work.

Nodoka had hoped that Marcel could be a sort of role model to Ranma; somebody that he could look up to and learn from. And while he kept the maids happy, she was comforted in knowing that Marcel would never try anything on her. She was a faithfully married woman after all, and crossing the bounds of the master-servant relationship was just simply unheard of. Besides, the sight of her wielding her katana was enough to send any Frenchman running towards the hills, if need be.

'What to do? What to do?' She pondered, before deciding on a method on how to best defuse the situation. She quickly walked up to Ranma-chan and placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping the girl dead in her tracks.

"Oh dear, Marcel, I am afraid that without realizing it, you've just committed the most grievous of errors, humanly possible. You see, due to the negligence on the part of his father, your young master, Ranma, has unfortunately been cursed to change into a girl. Fortunately, it is only a temporary infliction, but alas it can be reactivated upon contact with water. I'm afraid that by displaying your proper manliness to what would appear to be a willing lass, you have in effect assaulted your master's very manliness, for which he properly responded to, I might add," she then bent her head to look at her feisty young daughter, who at the moment was sending very threatening messages to Marcel via scowling.

"Oh Ranma, I'm so proud of you, defending your honor and manliness, like that. Oh, I do think what you did was the right thing to do, but really now, I think you should calm down now. It seems to be all just some great big misunderstanding, after all. Marcel here was just trying to be manly, like he should be, and didn't know about your curse and all," she continued, hoping that her daughter could find it within her heart to forgive Marcel for his foolhardiness.

"But Mom, I just wanna clobber tha jerk," protested Ranma, who normally, wouldn't be so set on revenge. She wasn't as needlessly violent as Akane, but if there was one thing that drove her over the edge, it was guys forcing their unwanted attentions upon her. To her, it was the stuff that nightmares were made of, and she'd be damned if she'd let them get away with it.

"Very well then, there will be plenty of time for a good lashing later on. Right now though, I want you to go upstairs and get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us today, and you'll need all the rest that you can get. Also, there is some hot water in your bathroom, that you can use to change back," Nodoka said seriously, as she considered the lashing. She would have to have Marcel instruct Ranma on the proper usage of the whip, later on.

"Lashing ... later ...", Ranma yawned, "Okay mom ... uh which is my room again?" Asked Ranma, as her need for sleep took its toll and overwhelmed her need to dish out a good thrashing upon the pervert.

"Oh, I'll show you, dear," replied Nodoka, as she eagerly jumped at the chance to do something that she had missed out on for all those years of waiting. That being, giving her son a goodnight kiss on the forehead, right after she tucked him in and before he dozed off.

"Thanks Mom," said Ranma as she slumped, half awake, letting her mother guide her by the hand to her room, as she walked unevenly, and her vision went blurry.

It was awhile later in Nerima and still very early in the morning as Nabiki was whispering something, while nudging her sometimes violent sister, trying to get her to wake up. It was turning out to be a harder task than she'd imagine.

"Akane, come on and wake up already," she whispered in a low but vexed voiced, growing somewhat impatient, at her sister's obvious lack of cooperation. For awhile there, she considered getting out the old bucket of water, a trick her sister had used plenty of times on Ranma.

"Wuh ... Wuhat is it, oneechan? Is it time for school already?" Questioned a perplexed Akane, as she noted the lack of light coming in through her window.

"No, we gotta leave. We've gotta clean up this idiotic mess you created last night. You gonna owe me big time, this time, imotosan," said Nabiki indignantly, as she glared down at her little sister, her face filled with much disappointment, which made Akane cringe, wishing that she was still dealing with the emotionless Ice Queen she had grown to know instead, as she bolted straight up, trying to gain focus of her eyes and wits.

"Uh... what you mean, sis?" Asked Akane as her perception on what was going on was fuzzier than her sight.

"Look imoto, your unthoughtful display of temper and jealousy last night, may have cost you your engagement to Ranma. What do you think? That you can give such a bad first impression, to his overly formal mother and then declare that the engagement is over and get away with it? While most people wouldn't take your crazed ramblings so seriously, someone set in the old ways like her probably would. I have half a mind to let you reap the consequences of your own actions this time, but the thing is I'll miss Ranma being around here too much, if I don't do something and step in. And don't you let anyone know that I said so, or I promise that you'll regret it, imotosan. It's high time that you started acting responsible and start taking care of yourself, instead of expecting Kasumi and me to fix everything you mess up," fussed Nabiki, crossing her arms, as she gave her sister a chilling look in the eyes, letting her know that she was serious.

Akane hung her head down low in shame, as the realization of what she had done the previous night hit.

"I'm sorry oneechan, I didn't realize..." she said weakly.

"I think you should save your apologizes for Ranma and yourself. But come on now, hurry up and get dressed. We don't have much time left. We gotta go, and I mean now," replied the older sister impatiently.

"So where are we going?" Asked Akane, still half asleep as she got up and started walking towards the closet to get her clothes.

"To apologize to Ranma and make amends, of course," replied Nabiki coldly, as she made her way out the door to give her sister some sense of privacy, after discreetly glancing over the various positions where the surveillance equipment was hidden and smirking to herself.

After Akane got dressed in one of her usual yellow sun dresses, she joined Nabiki, who was going over things in her mind. The two of them walked downstairs were Kasumi was already merrily sweeping away while humming a tune, making the best of her situation as a homemaker.

"No need to make breakfast for us two this morning, oneechan," greeted Nabiki as she was halfway to the door.

"Oh my, why is that, imotochan?" Replied Kasumi as she grew concerned wondering if her sisters would be considerate enough to pick themselves up something along the way.

"We're going out to try to fix this mess Akane created last night. Hopefully, we'll have Ranma back here in no time. And, don't worry, we'll pick up something to eat on our way back," said Nabiki, stepping out the door, halfway rolling her eyes at her sister's predictable nature.

"Oh that's good to know, imotochan," said Kasumi as she brightened up, only to become somewhat depressed again a few seconds later, as she realized that there would only be three plates to fix this morning. She would also miss the energetic display over the koi pond that transpired each morning right before breakfast. She contemplated these things and more, as she stuck a finger to her lips and looked up at the ceiling for a moment, studying it carefully, before chiding herself for wasting valuable time. There were pots to be scrubbed and tables to be wiped.

"Hurry up Akane, I don't have all day, you know," said Nabiki as she walked swiftly towards the gates, without looking back, not giving her sister much time to catch up.

"I'm coming," said Akane as she ran after her sister, wondering what Nabiki's problem was anyway, as she started to slightly get annoyed at her.

As they approached the gates, Akane saw a car parked by the sidewalk, waiting for them. It belonged to one of Nabiki's associates. Nabiki casually opened the front door, to ride shotgun, leaving Akane her choice of backseat. As she reached the car, she noticed that both Nabiki and her associate Shunzo had their seats pushed all the way back and lowered, leaving her with hardly any legroom.

'Oh how considerate of them,' she fumed to herself.

"Now Akane, last night before I went to bed, I did a quick database search and came up with Ranma's mother's address. The street is interestingly named and appears to be in Juuban somewhere, so we'll have Shunzo-kun here drive us there. I woke you up early today, so we could avoid early morning rush hour. With any luck, we should get there a little after the Saotomes wake up," Nabiki said full of pride in her foresight.

"But neechan, What about school?" Blurted out a concerned Akane.

"Forget school for a moment Akane, we're gonna skipping it today. Besides, what's more important to you anyway?" Asked Nabiki, disappointed at her sister's apparent shortsightedness.

Meanwhile back in Juuban, the smell of an extravagant breakfast woke up one groggy pig tailed martial artist, with blond spotted hair, as his mother's musicians played Mozart in the background. He rubbed the sand out of his eyes, and cursed as the less than two hours worth of sleep had done nothing more than make him feel even more tired than before. Being dead tired, he became annoyed at the music playing in the background, as he looked around at the unfamiliar scene and scratched his head, which was covered withmatted hair.

"Ow, what the hell, this isn't my futon. Where tha heck am I? And, what the hell's going on around here? ... Uhm, yeah, that's right. I'm at Mom's. Uh, might as well get up and ready ... somethin' about going on a trip of some kind, I think," said Ranma-kun as he staggered across the room to his own personal bathroom, equipped with its own furo.

As Ranma was enjoying a nice hot furo, Nodoka knocked on the door to his room a few times and waited awhile upon no answer. She then entered the room stealthily and placed a change of clothing on Ranma's new comfy bed. She smiled and looked back happily, before leaving.

Somewhere in Tokyo, three people rode inside a car.

"Now sis, your little temper tantrum is proving to be very costly to me," explained Nabiki while trying to figure out a way to cover her loses.

"What do you mean?" Asked Akane concerned that Nabiki was going to make her pay.

"Simple sister, I'm going to have to waste something that could have proved highly profitable to me, to make Nodoka see us in a good light again," Nabiki responded sadly.

"What exactly are you talking about 'Biki?"

"Quite simple imotochan. I've asked Shunzo-kun over here to keep safe for me, a cask of Nannichuan. Naturally, I warned him to keep that stuff clear of all females, under any circumstance, since it obviously has a very undesirable effect upon the fairer sex. So basically, I'm gonna make you look good by having you present the cure to Ranma-kun as a gift. I'd say that should make good on anything you did last night," explained Nabiki to her younger sister.

"How... how'd you get a cask of Nannichuan?" Akane asked in shock.

"Oh that's real easy to explain sis, remember way back, when we had that odd Jusenkyo Guide digging around in our koi pond? Well I struck a deal with him, by privately offering him a sum of money while nobody was around, in exchange for him sending me back some Nannichuan upon his return to China. At first he didn't want anything to do with the deal, worried about how I would use the stuff. So, quite naturally, I pretended to be a lesbian, pleading with him that I only wanted the stuff to use on myself, since I obviously preferred pleasing girls over men. Touched by my little performance, he was quite willing to help me out after that. Especially, since the sum of money I offered him, while not much over here, for a communist Chinese worker was a small fortune," said Nabiki, happy about what she was able to pull out of her hat at the time.

"Hey! If that's true, then how come, if ya had the stuff all this time, are you only now giving it tor Ranma?" Yelled a furious Akane.

"Oh please spare me the emotional outburst, Akane. It's not like you're just now finding out that I'm a coldblooded, calculating, conniving businesswoman. Please, do you really think that I would just give away something for free, after having spent all that time and money acquiring it? You know, the original plan was to give the cask to the highest bidder. Secretly, however, I'd like to think that somehow I would have made sure that that person would have been Ranma, by making him do something extremely profitable for me in return. It probably would have been him anyway, considering that all the cursed boys around here are dirt poor. I guess, me being willing to sacrifice this opportunity for the sake of that dumb jock, proves that I would have eventually done the right thing, sis," she hated to admit.

"You know, that still doesn't explain why you only now telling us that you've had the stuff," fussed Akane, still not convinced at her sister's confession.

"Look Akane, part of being a shrewd businesswoman is being patient, waiting for the time to present itself, when things are at their most opportune, before revealing your hand. The longer I waited, the more likely it was that one of the cursed boys would have had something worth bargaining over. The longer I waited the more desperate they would become to be cured, the more willing they would be to do things in return. It's possible even that someone cursed would come along, who wasn't as poor as the others. But, none of that matters now, because of you the opportunity is now wasted and I need to use the cask to clean up your mess. So, don't go acting all high and mighty with me, Akane. Not unless you're willing to bring home the bacon for a change, instead of letting others take care of things for you," Nabiki told her ungrateful sister.

Meanwhile, in another part of Tokyo, more specifically in an airport terminal at Narita, Nodoka and Ranma were waiting for their direct flight to Atlanta.

"Uh, Mom I thought you said, we were going on a short trip," said Ranma, resting his head on some luggage.

"I'm sorry dear; I tend to have this habit of understating things at times," admitted Nodoka, holding her bundle that she somehow managed to get past airport security.

"I'd say..."

Back in Juuban, Shunzo started to slow down in front of an awkwardly out of place mansion, surrounded by a middle class neighborhood. This was the place alright, according to the online directions he printed out this morning.

"Shunzo-san, why are we stopping here?" Asked Nabiki curiously, as the compact stopped near the golden gates of the Saotome estate. "Oh, never mind," she said in shock, as she read the huge kanji characters delicately interwoven in the golden filigree of the gargantuan gate. "Ranma baby, you never cease to amaze," she mouthed, not willing to let her feelings be known as she felt disappointment in herself for not thoroughly investigating his family beforehand. For a second, she was tempted to forget all about her sister and woo the boy herself.

"Well come on Akane, lets get out and uhm ... ring the doorbell," she said bitterly as the two young women vacated the car. Nabiki then walked up to one of the beautifully polished marble columns that were hinging the gates, and pressed a button on the embedded intercom.

"Good morning, may I be of some assistance?" Crackled a static filled voice.

"Yes, we are here to see Misses Saotome and her son. We're good friends of Ranma; in fact, you could say we're almost like family. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you let him know we are here," responded Nabiki with a honey-coated voice.

"Please feel free to enter," the static spoke as the front gates automatically opened silently, contrasting the intercom.

"Thanks," replied Nabiki as she signaled Akane with her hand to walk back to the car with her. "You'd think they'd be able to afford, to fix that damn thing," she commented to her sister, trying to come off as if she wasn't at all impressed by the Saotomes' immense wealth.

Waiting for them, at the front steps of the mansion, stood a proud French butler sporting a very stylish goatee. To each of his sides, stood a wary maid, carefully eying the butler suspiciously, skillfully trying to keep out of reach, but not too far, as to seem inappropriate to their visiting guests. A small orchestra was playing a concerto, behind the trio, as Shunzo pulled into the circular part of the driveway, with his unpolished compact loudly clunking away. The Tendo's each had to sweat drop at the grand spectacle that was bestowed upon them, as they exited the car, wide eyed.

The trio of servants smiled at them, each happy to serve their guests in their own unique way. The butler gave them a small wink, while each of the maids held out a golden tray, filled with extravagant refreshments and other goodies. For some reason, Nabiki felt uneasy, as she felt as if she sensed that the maids were ready to pound the butler, using their golden trays, at any given moment. 'That's odd,' she thought, confused over what her intuition was telling her. Unbeknown to her, was that all her time spent dealing with the various perverts that inhabited Nerima, had served to heighten her pervert detecting senses. Akane, meanwhile, didn't sense a thing.

"Ah ... So, what do we have here? But, two so very lovely mademoiselles, come to visit Madam Nodoka and Monsieur Ranma," Marcel said as he made his way over to say bonjour to the two very lovely angels that had arrived from above. As he approached Nabiki, he hesitated for a moment, as she gave him a look that promised a sexual harassment lawsuit, if he tried anything. Shaking off the eerie feeling he got from the chilling girl, he then proceeded to ignore her, turning instead to the pretty short haired, but glum looking brunette. He decided that it was his duty as a Frenchman to cheer the poor thing up. It just wouldn't be right, to have such a pretty young thing feeling unhappy and suffer like that.

"Oh mademoiselle, it is indeed a great and noble privilege to be honored by meeting one, such as beautiful and charming as yourself," he said before enveloping her hand into his, as he then bent down and gave her a very wet and passionate kiss on the hand, which involved a bit of tongue and some suction noises. His passionate love making was soon interrupted by the intensive glowing of a red dwarf about to go supernova on his ass.

"Why you you you pervert," cried out Akane severely stuttering, as she smashed him into the ground with her industrial strength mallet. Upon seeing this, the two maids casually spun their trays into the air, sending them flying off like frisbees, with the refreshments still on them. They then proceeded to walk up to Marcel and stomp him as he lay there flat in his indentation in the ground. They were soon to be joined by an overly violent tomboy, rambling on about how all men were such perverts.

"Uhm," interrupted Nabiki, tired after watching the first few minutes, "we were wondering if Misses Saotome or her son were home," she queried.

"Oh I'm sorry you just missed the lady and the young master," answered one of the maids, grinding her heel into the back of Marcel's head. She had a retractable spike added to the heel for just such an occasion and was very pleased to finally get to use it.

"Yeah, they just left for the States, this morning," answered the other maid as she whacked Marcel over the head with a Stradivarius cello that she had borrowed earlier from one of the orchestra members, while Akane was applying the Boston Crab on Marcel, intent on her quest of ridding the planet of all perverts.

"Oh that's just great," said Nabiki angrily with disappointment, as the maids got up and returned to their respective positions, catching the golden trays as they returned. "Well there's nothing more to be done here, come on Akane, Shunzo, lets go," said Nabiki hurriedly as they started walking back to the compact.

"You sure you wouldn't like some refreshments before you leave," asked one of the maids, as the other one waved good bye to Akane, respecting the grappling moves the girl had applied to Marcel earlier.

"Nah, that's alright," replied Nabiki as she got into the car. After leaving a bit of exhaust in the air, The compact soon started clunking away again. Upon their imminent departure, a group of various servants exited the mansion to help the musicians at their task of hauling off the instruments back indoors. This included the grand piano, as a group of six servants carried it back inside, while two others carried the bench with the pianist still sitting on it.

Around noon time, back in Nerima, a small crowd gathered to watch another spectacle.

"Oh Akane ... Where are you? I have traveled the vast deserts of Mongolia for days on end, without water, looking for you, just wanting to feel your sweet embrace, longing for the comfort of your arms, waiting for the time that I can look you straight into the eyes, and confess to you that I love you with all my soul. Oh Akane ... I've suffered through the tundra of Venezuela trying to make it on foot to Peru, crawling on my frozen hands, frostbitten from the relentless blizzard, isolated in some godforsaken land, begging the kamis with all my heart, to let me gaze upon your divine form, just one more time before I perish. To see you with my own two eyes once more. That is all I ask for. I know I'm not worthy and that it is more than I deserve, but I love you with all my heart Akane, so I pray that the kamis take pity on," Ryoga continued his grand performance in front of a live audience, as he held his arms out pointing up into the sky and starred up as if to ask the kamis why, as the crowd mumbled amongst themselves, feeling sorry for the poor boy.

Akane meanwhile, was just around the corner from Ryoga, concealed behind a concrete wall. There she sat dejectedly on the curb of Shunzo's house, throwing pebbles across the street, watching them bounce along the concrete street, cursing herself over her own stupidity.

"Oh Ranma, I'm so sorry. I'm so damn stupid," she whispered to herself, before she paid note to the continuous ramblings of one very depressed and lost boy and the gossiping of a crowd of spectators that surrounded him.

"Oh Akane! Where are you?" Repeated the lost boy loudly towards the heavens, as he clenched both his fists and the muscles in his neck streched out from frustration.

"Ryoga?" Asked Akane as she placed a gentile hand on his shoulder.

"Uh..." he giggled with a flushed face, while nervously twiddled his fingers together, "hi Akane ... Uhm what you doing over here in Tajikistan?" He asked shyly, as the crowd began to mumble things like, "So, this is the girl that he is so hung up about," which Akane was totally oblivious to as she focused in all her attention towards her friend and happily took the overly shy boy by the hand, guiding him back to the front of Shunzo's house.

"Oh Ryoga, I'm so happy to see you," Akane let out with a heartfelt burst of emotion, as her eyes watered up and she gave her friend a tight hug to comfort herself in her moment of despair and self loathing.

"You are?" Ryoga asked in an extremely happy but somewhat surprised tone. It seemed like the kamis had finally answered his prayers. They took pity upon his lonely soul and given him the greatest thing in all creation. They must have looked past his shortcomings and decided to give him a chance at true happiness, at last. He felt like tippytoeing around in circles, while being lifted up by miniature angle wings connected to his shoulders.

"Uh ... Ryoga ... what ... uhm are you doing?" Asked Akane nervously, being totally embarrassed by her friend's display of idiocy, as she looked apprehensively back and forth, praying to Kami-sama that nobody saw the two of them together, as Ryoga merrily danced around in a very sissified manner on top of the sidewalk. Sure she considered him a friend and all, but whenever he acted like this, she sure felt sorry for the poor woman who would end up married to him. Thinking about his outlandish idiosyncrasies, sent cold shivers running up her back.

"Ah ... Ah ... Akane, do you really mean it? Can it really be true?" He asked, while rocking back and forth between the tips of his feet to the balls of them, as he held his intertwined hands to his chest, looking at her very sheepishly with tear filled puppy-dogged eyes.

"Why sure Ryoga," she said trying to appease him, "in fact, I don't know anyone else that I can trust," she continued to say honestly.

While she had been initially happy to see her dear friend Ryoga, she wasn't so sure about that now, as she watched him make a total fool out of himself. He made her feel extremely flustered whenever he was in one of his states of pure bewilderment. The embarrassment alone made her want to dwindle away and hide under a small rock, as people would stare stupefied at the lost boy, not sure whether it was best to observe him out of some morbid sense of curiosity, or leave for safety as the crazed lunatic would become overly emotional about his deranged ramblings. As she looked at him, she imagined a little bird, making the sounds of, 'bonn cuckoo, bonn cuckoo,' as she saw him rocking back and forth on his feet, looking at her in that strange way that caused her to worry often, as a bit of drool bubbled out of the side of his mouth.

"Oh Ryoga, it's so ... so terrible," Akane said with tears in her eyes as she ran up to Ryoga and hugged him tightly. He could feel all the tensed up emotions coursing through her body.

'She ... she ... she hugged me, she really hugged me,' he thought as he started giggling like a school girl, neglecting in its entirety that something terrible had happened to Akane and that she was hurt.

"Oh its horrible, Ryoga," she said, as she released him and moved her hands down to his, squeezing them tightly as she looked him sadly in the eyes, causing a violent truckload of guilt to collide into his very essence, knocking the lost boy out of his current delusion, reminding him once more just why he wasn't worthy of his true love. It was soon replaced by the onset of his depression leaking back into his body, filling it in its entirety as a faint green hue seemed to cover his skin.

"I may have lost Ranma for good this time, and it's all because of my own stupidity," she said, as the sadness in her own face made Ryoga forget about his own self-pity.

'Damn you Ranma, for making Akane suffer like this, I swear I'm gonna kill you, if that's the last thing I'll do. I swear it, Akane. Oh ... why do you care for that bastard, so much for anyway, when all he ever does is hurt you. Don't you realize that he doesn't love you like I do? He can't, and it pains my heart every time I have to see that jerk mistreat you the way that he does. Yet, despite it all, despite all of the things the dishonorable excuse for a human being does to you, you ... you just keep loving him. Why Akane? Oh why? I'm gonna haveta get rid of the jerk once and for all, for your sake Akane, for your sake,' he vowed in his mind, as his heart of glass instantly shattered under extreme pressure into subatomic particles, which clouded his very existence. 'Ranma, because of you, I have no heart!' He yelled into a deep dark vastness inside his head.

"Yesterday Ryoga, Ranma's mother came to visit. Everything went great and I was so happy that Ranma finally got to meet his mother. I know how important it is to have a mother, having lost my own, Ryoga-kun. The most wonderful thing of it all was that she excepted Ranma despite his curse and we were all getting along, enjoying ourselves that night. That is until she came along and had to ruin it. That that no good Chinese hussy, she just made me get so damn jealous, rubbing up all over the jerk like that, like she owned him or something, feeling him up and all. I triedta control myself, my temper, honestly Ryoga, but because of the continued brazen action of that damned Chinese bimbo, I lost all control of myself and struck out at Ranma instead of her, and totally defamed myself in the eyes of his mother," Akane sobbed, as she wanted to wring the neck of that Chinese hussy.

'Oh the impudence of that spineless coward! Using one of his many whores, that he is only leading on, to overcome my dear sweat Akane with jealousy and rage, just to sully her reputation in front of his mother, leaving her desperate, while pitifully trying to crawl back to him on her hands and knees, begging for his forgiveness. Oh, the humility of it all. Ranma for your indiscretions against Akane, I swear by the graves of my ancestors that I, Ryoga Hibiki, shall put you out of your misery, and bring back happiness to this beautiful angel standing before me. But first Ranma, I will make you suffer, long and hard, for all the misdeeds that you've committed against Akane,' thought an enraged Ryoga, wanting to crack his knuckles, and then follow that up by punching the concrete wall, as he saw Akane sniffling.

"But that's not the worst of it Ryoga-chan. His mother, Nodoka, was so upset with my outrageous behavior that night, that she took Ranma and left. I skipped school today, along with my sister, in hopes of apologizing and setting things right again. Nabiki came up with this wonderful plan to make things all better, but when we got to Ranma's house, it was all for not. Ranma is gone, left the country, to the States I think. Oh Ryoga, this is entirely all my fault," she said as she once again enveloped him in a hug and cried on his shoulder.

Yes! This was good news, indeed. Ranma was gone. The coward had tucked his tail between his knees and fled off to somewhere with his mama, Ryoga chuckled to himself internally, which of course left Akane wide open to be wooed by someone worthy such as himself. Sure, Akane was hurt now, crying, heartbroken even, thinking that the world had come to an end, but it would all be worth it once she found true happiness with someone who'd love her back, and would never cheat on her with such unworthy women of low moral fiber, as Ranma had. 'Oh Akane, we'll be so happy together,' thought Ryoga as he fantasized living a normal family life with Akane, which included dog, kids and a pair of slippers.

"Ryoga, I need your help. Will you promise to help me? Please Ryoga, please." begged Akane, insistently, while holding on to his shirt, begging in the way only girls could, totally breaking down a guy's self defenses, getting them to agree to anything, no matter how foolish, costly or how set against it they were.

"Akane, you know I will do anything for you," admitted Ryoga, hating himself for saying that statement. He didn't want to do anything that helped Akane get back together with Ranma, thus sabotaging his own chances of happiness, but he knew he loved her so much that he would do anything for her, even sacrifice his own life or worst his happiness.

"I'm so glad to hear it, Ryoga. Come follow me," she said as she led a depressed Ryoga up to Shunzo's compact.

"I figured that since you're such good friends with Ranma, always offering to help him find a cure, and since you seem to have such a knack of finding him in spite of your sense of direction, that you could give this to him for me. I love Ranma and I want him to have this cure, even if we don't end up together," said Akane, hopeful that Ryoga would accept her request.

Ryoga lowered his eyelids, as his smile completely vanished. His hopes for a bright, cheery future with Akane were crushed by her declaration of love to Ranma. Why was he born? He wondered as he felt hatred towards his creator. It wasn't fair, to live just to suffer, to have every hope you ever had stepped on and then squashed. What reason was there to go on now, if he couldn't have Akane, his sole reason for existence? Was revenge on Ranma alone worth postponing his untimely demise? Perhaps, he would have to think about that, that is after he would bash his archnemesis's skull in upon delivery of the cask, he thought.

"Ryoga please promise me that you will give this cask of Nannichuan to Ranma and make sure that he is cured. Please promise me," Akane continued to beg, as she grabbed two fists full of Ryoga's shirt, shaking him about.

"Akane I promise. Like I said, I'll do anything for you. I swear Akane that I will hand deliver this cask to Ranma and do as you wish," Ryoga said sadly as he took the cask of Nannichuan out of the trunk, "farewell Akane, I hope to see you one day under more pleasant circumstances," he said as he purposefully got himself lost, after giving Akane a wave goodbye.

"Come on, time for us to go back home. School should be over soon," said Nabiki as she exited Shunzo's house, smiling at her sister, as she walked up to the car. She figured that perhaps she had been a little hard on her sister. After all, it was obvious how much the poor girl had suffered. No matter what happened next, Nabiki thought that this experience would prove to be good for Akane.

"Hey! What the hell did you do with the Nannichuan, Akane," yelled Nabiki as she noticed something missing.

"Ryoga came by and I figured that I'll give it to him to give to Ranma, since he always manages to find him anyway. I'm sure that Ryoga will find Ranma much faster than we possibly could," said Akane proudly, thinking that she had done something smart.

"Oh, you Idiot! Akane, do you have any idea, what you've just done? All this time and money spent on acquiring something so valuable just to have you waste it for nothing, wasted just because my sister is a complete and utter idiot. Oh why do I have to be surrounded by fools, and so many of them at that? Is it too much to ask for people to have at least a little intelligence, these days? Well, you can just kiss the notion of Ranma being cured goodbye sis, and it is all thanks to you too," Nabiki fussed. It was one thing to lose something of value, with no financial return for a good cause, but it was something totally different to have it wasted out of pure stupidity.

"What are you talking about? Ryoga is a good friend of Ranma's. He'll make sure that Ranma gets the cure. He even swore that he would. Quite frankly Nabiki, I don't see what your problem is anyway. Other people can come up with good ideas too," yelled Akane back, sick of the treatment she had been on the receiving end of all day long. She just wished that her sister could treat her like an adult for once, instead of a child.

"Oh yeah? That little friend of your's isn't quite the angel that you think he is. There are things about him that you don't know, things that would change your opinion of him. Let me just tell you this, Ryoga is no friend of Ranma's. He never was and he probably never will be. I just wish you and Ranma could comprehend that. If you gave the cure to that dishonorable bastard than it is as good as wasted, and I am sorry if I'm so mad at you, since after all you didn't know, but it's just that Ranma's lost his chance at being cured and he's like a little brother to me. Damn it Akane, how could you have done something so stupid?" said Nabiki in an unusual display of emotion, as she planned on having a long talk with her father about keeping

chan's little secret just to make Ranma jealous. It had ended up costing them dearly.

Besides that, there was no way in hell that she would allow that bacon butt to become part of the family. She had done some research on his family curse, and apparently the curse would not only effect the person he would get married to and their children, but also the current generation of the spouse's family. Pork Buns there just oh-so-conveniently forgot to mention that little fact to her baby sister. It seemed that the curse had been placed on his family to wipe out their line. But, apparently the Hibiki offspring never mentioned that little tidbit of information to the potential mates that they were courting. She would be damned if she would become as directionally challenged as that jerk.

"You're wrong about Ryoga, Nabiki. He's a good, kind person, and if there is anybody that can be trusted, it is him. He'll give the cure to Ranma, just as promised. You'll see. He's not bad at all, not like you think. I don't know why you always gotta make the worst of things, Nabiki. You need to be a little bit more trusting of others, otherwise you'll always be sad and lonely," said Akane, a little disillusioned at her sister's obvious negative view towards the universe.

"Well, I just hope you're right, Akane," said Nabiki still upset at her sister's latest blunder, 'but I know otherwise, dear sister, I know otherwise,' she thought as she started plotting a horrible revenge for Ryoga if he did indeed used the Nannichuan on himself, instead of safely delivering it to Ranma-kun as promised. Nobody messed with her family and would get away with it, she swore.

"Oh I am, Nabiki. You'll see, I am," said Akane confident of the choice she had made.

-(To be continued...)-

Next Time on Continuance of the Bloodline, Ranma finally meets the Diggers.

Omake 1: Cursed by a Goddess.

(As suggested by Innortal)

Their moment of happiness was interrupted by a rumbling sound in the background.

"Oh, that's funny, I don't remember there being any rain in the forecast. I'm sure I checked it before I left... Oh well, I suppose there isn't anything we can do about it now" said Nodoka.

"Oh, that just figures..." Ranma said, as he looked up hatefully towards the sky. He knew that one day he was going to find that damn kami, who plagued his very existence, and let him know a thing or two, right after giving him a good pounding of course, he swore as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation of that day. 'You'll just wait and watch, you dirty rotten kami. Just wait and watch, I'm gonna getcha one day,' he telepathically threatened the offending kami.

Meanwhile at Keiichi, Belldandy was merrily baking a cake in the oven, much the same way her avatar back in Nerima was doing, as she happily hummed a tune to herself.

"Oh My! I forgot that Kenchii prefers chocolate cake over vanilla" Belldandy panicked, as this slight oversight in judgment, would end up dampening the rest of her night.

Inside Keiichi's garage, Skuld was glaring at the LCD panel of her notebook computer.

"Anytime you're ready buddy! Anytime you're ready" She spat out, as she released her hand from the cloud generator, and pulled out her trusty croquet mallet ... I mean debugger ... from behind her back, angrily shaking it about.

The goddess of the future had a particular bone to pick, with a certain sex changing martial artist. Apparently, Bastet and her father had drawn up and signed a contract, behind her back, in which she was to become engaged, upon his Ascension, to Bastet's son which Bastet bore while in her avatar form. Skuld was fuming over this. 'Imagine, my own father engaging me like that, and without even asking first,' she thought, as the most infuriating thing about it all, was the fact that they weren't even planning on telling her about it, or at least not until it was too late. She wouldn't have found out about it either, if she hadn't been on her daily hacking excursion into Yggdrasil, this time finding a heavily encrypted file, marked for Kami-sama's eyes only.

When she confronted her father about it, he got on his high horse and acted all high and mighty and holier-than-thou, as he told her that he was in charge and knew what was best. Needless to say, she left the meeting fuming and intent on taking matters into her own hands. Fine, if he was going to be an ass about it, then she was going to have to change his mind for him, by getting Bastet's offspring cursed. She used her transport medium to transport within the general vicinity of one Genma Saotome, as the fat martial artist was burglarizing a house. Using her cloak field generator, she casually walked up to his bag of loot and dropped in a Jusenkyo guidebook, before teleporting back home to Asgard.

There she sat, snickering as she watched the display of her notebook, munching away on a bag of zesty popcorn and gulping down a can of Jolt Cola. She began to laugh uncontrollably, sending bits of popcorn flying all over the place, as Genma vacated the premises, lugging a heavy bag on his shoulders, and started jumping from house to house, quickly leaving the scene of the crime. A bit impatient, she fast forwarded time a little, and then spat out the remainder of her soft drink on her panel, as she saw an angry little redhead emerge out of a pond and soon pursue her pandafied father, in the hopes of murdering the old fool, for ruining her life, yet again.

Skuld went to her father to tell him the 'unfortunate' news about Bastet child being cursed. Much to her dismay, Kami-sama was unfazed by the news and refused to call of the engagement. He went on babbling about how a deal was a deal and that the contract already had been signed and that all kamis must honor the deals that they make. Skuld slapped herself on the forehead, remembering one of the prime directives to which all goddess had to abide by.

"Besides", he said in an echoing voice, "a gender swapping curse is a perfect fit for a god or goddess of change," he echoed, smiling as if he knew that Skuld was responsible. So, defeated, all there was left to do for the goddess of the future was to pester the god-to-be, as he lived out the remainder of his mortal life.

As she continued on her trail of thoughts, somehow she knew that this was all Urd's fault. Before she could contemplate any further, she was rudely interrupted out of thought, as the vintage television sitting in the corner, collecting dust, started shooting out sparks and loudly crackling away. When the Norn turned around to see what was wrong, she saw a shapely leg step out of the television.

'Speak of the devil,' she groaned.

Urd, looked at Skuld with much disappointment and disgust, because as she had predicted her tomboy sister was behind a computer screen, just like a geek, typing away instead of being more like a normal little girl, doing things like talking to friends, going out to meet boys or actually having a life.

"You know, if you don't stop being so nerdy, you'll never end up getting married Skuld" Urd said shaking her head. She remembered telling Kami-sama the exact same thing about Skuld years ago, in hopes of getting permission to play matchmaker. Instead, the old fart told her not to worry, he'll handle it. The self-proclaimed goddess of love rolled her eyes at that, as she though, 'yeah right, some job he's doing.'

"Who wants to get married" Screamed Skuld, as she accidentally debugged her own notebook in a fit of rage.

Omake 2: When Tomboys Attack.

(As suggested by Innortal)

As it was pouring, Ranma-chan walked on top of a fence, wet, with a running nose and steaming over that blasted kami, as the hot headed redhead began to vaporize the rain around her as her anger grew. Nodoka was too busy thinking about grandchildren to notice as she walked in front of her daughter, leading the way to Juuban. As they journeyed, Ranma was cursing the kami under her breath, trying to think of every bad word in the book, while contemplating in what order to administer the various tortures of feudal Japan, that she had learned about in school. That damn kami wasgoing to regret the day he messed with Ranma Saotome, she swore as she punched her open hand.

Skuld had enough, she just couldn't take Ranma's insolence anymore. It was bad enough that she was going to have to marry the jerk one day. But, to have her insult her like that, while thinking of painful tortures to inflict upon her person, was the straw that finally broke the sacred camel's back. A smirk appeared on her face, as she walked towards the furo that Belldandy had prepared.

As Mother and Daughter headed towards Juuban, a puddle of water in front of them spontaneously started bubbling and swirling about. Much to their surprise, an angry tomboy goddess stepped out of the puddle, dry despite the rain around her, sending Nodoka's jaw heading towards the ground. Ranma meanwhile, coming from Nerima found it a bit odd, but then again it seemed normal enough based on the status quo of Nerima that she just shrugged her shoulders, bored, while fully intent on just passing this stranger by in the hopes of reaching a comfy futon to melt away in.

"Why you! I'm going to kill you," screamed Skuld, as she reached behind herself, grabbing her croquet mallet, then tossing it from hand to hand, as she got ready to charge Ranma.

"Ack! Oh my god, it's ah tomboy," screeched Ranma-chan, now very afraid, knowing all to well just how painful those pesky tomboys could be, as she jumped off the fence, ready to turn around and run back towards the supposed safety of Nerima.

"I'm going to debug you from this plane of existence, Ranma," threatened the goddess, as the handle of her mallet extended to meet the troublesome redhead, as Skuld brought it down.

"Oh no! Ya someone who followed me from Nerima, aren'tcha?" Ranma continued to screech, as she dodged the mallet by shifting to the side, while standing on one leg with the other raised.

"Shut up and die," yelled Skuld as she rushed the other girl, wildly swinging her debugger about, while Ranma was dodging it with ease. Skuld just continued to grow infuriated, angry that she forgot her Skuldbombs at home, as she just kept missing her elusive intended. Finally, she had enough and slid the mallet back onto her back, tackling the redhead instead, sending both of them flying into a muddy puddle, resulting with Skuld being on top of Ranma, all muddy and in a very compromising position.

Nodoka was in her own little world, as she happily watched the young girl straddle her daughter, in what looked to be a female mud wrestling match. She stopped worrying about the fight when she found out that said girl was a stalker, who had followed her son all the way from Nerima. 'Oh my, my son is so manly, attracting stalkers, who want nothing more than to jump on top of him and have wild and passionate,' she giggled the last part, as she thought up of yet another way to one-up her friends at their next weekly "my son is so manly" meeting.

"I got you at last, Ranma," laughed Skuld, as she reached back for her debugger, ready to rid the world of yet another source of chaos.

Skuld was interrupted, when a bright flash shone from behind her, causing her to turn her head back and Ranma to lift her head up. Bastet stepped out of Nodoka, leaving her avatar as a semitransparent phantom, as her tail waved back and forth.

"That's enough Skuld, you are not to interfere in the lives of mortals, be they common, avatar, deity-to-be, or otherwise. You know the rules Skuld," said Bastet, somewhat annoyed at her future daughter-in-law.

"Bast!" Yelled Skuld.

"Now really Skuld, I know that you can't keep your hands off my manly son. It's not that I mind, because I do enjoy the prospect of having many future grandkittens running about. I even put up with the fact that you got my child cursed, with a gender swapping curse, figuring who am I to argue with your sexual preferences. After all, my dear Ranma here is your fiancé and what you two do behind closed doors is your business..." Said a mischievous Bastet enjoying getting Skuld's goat.

"Uh... Say what!" Yelled out a totally forgotten Ranma-chan, who for some reason was not scared at the sight of Bastet, as she shook herself out of shock. Bastet with a wave of her hand, froze her daughter in place, right before Ranma was about to angrily spout out something else.

"Now as I was saying Skuld, It's not that I don't mind you trying to jump the bones of my dear Ranma here, but alas Kami-sama was real adamant, despite my protests on the contrary, about no sex until after Ascension. So, you'll just going to have to wait for Ranma to live out this life, before you lay a finger upon him. Now, I'm just going to wipe the memory of both Ranma and my avatar, and send you on your merry way," she smirked, as she snapped her finger, pointing it towards Skuld, saying, "skedaddle," as she sent the young goddess back to the garage, before once more waving her hand in the air to wipe the memory of the two mortals.

Bastet walked up to her daughter, who was frozen and laying in the puddle. She bent down, lowering herself to her knees, and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I'm sorry that you have to go through this my son. It is a sort of a requirement for a god-to-be, born to a goddess's avatar, especially one aligned so much with chaos. But, cheer up my son, things will get better, and don't worry about that tomboy fiancée of yours. She'll eventually grow up and out of that tomboy stage, and learn to love and admire you as she watches your adventures from afar. After all, Kami-sama doesn't leave around files marked for his eyes only on Yggdrasil for nothing," she chuckled, thinking about how easy it was to deceive young deities. Most of them were just so naive, that it was adorable, she thought. She then got back up and happily walked back into Nodoka, creating another flash and unfreezing the mortals.

"What the heck!" Screamed Ranma-chan as she found herself laying in a puddle. It didn't make sense, just a second ago she was walking on top of the fence.

"Oh dear! Ranma! What are you doing lying around in a puddle? You know it isn't very manly of you at your age to still be playing around in puddles like that," fussed Nodoka. She really had to undo some of that damage that Genma had done to her child, she thought, as apparently Ranma still had the mentality of child in elementary school. She most certainly hoped that at the very least, he didn't still play with his food, although as a werecheetah she could somewhat understand him doing so if he did. 

Author Notes:

Okay, I'm not as desperate as I was when I first started writing this chapter about prereaders. I still would appreciate a few more, since the more eyes looking over this thing the better. If you want to get the story about a week early, with a few minor mistakes here and there and can preread within a week's time, let me know.

Thanks to all the people who left reviews for the last chapter. You make writing worth it. I also like to thank Innortal for the Omake suggestions. I really enjoyed writing them. I think they both complement each other and the story as a whole. If anybody has any ideas, feel free to write me. I'm always open to suggestions. :)

Hey BTW, I had originally planned on introducing the Diggers in this chapter. I usually have a clear idea before I write a chapter where I want things to end, but what I was writing got so big that I decided to split the chapter into two and make them independent chapters. I don't much care for chapter 2a and chapter 2b kind of stuff. Luckily, I was able to modify things so that this chapter had a proper ending and on the bright side of things, it made me come up with the cool chapter title I used in this chapter.

Also, I enjoyed playing on the clichés you find in Ranma fics. Like Ranma's mother living in Juuban, with her being rich half the time. Heck, if this wasn't a Gold Digger crossover I woulda gave her the maiden name of Masaki. Playing on Clichés was the only reason I had Nodoka take Ranma to Juuban. So don't worry about this being a sailor moon crossover too, I think that's the last time we'll go there too. Heh, BTW, it was fun finding out that the Juuban district isn't right next door to Nerima like almost all fan fics seem to make it seem. It's kind of hard finding maps of Tokyo though on the Internet. Also, it's not that I don't enjoy the clichés:) I just decided to have some fun with 'em.

Oh what was that again :P about Author Notes that I said:P

.G.

V1.0

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